Sailor Moon Universal
by Mandara
Summary: Darien breaks up with Serena and leaves towns. Things heat up as a new boy arrives and seems to claim Serena's affections.
1. A New Player

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**A New Beginning**

**Chapter One:** A New Player

"Waah!! I am going to be so late! Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

It was another normal day in the Tsukino household. Less than five minutes after the yell that was heard two blocks away, a young girl came running out the front door. She was about fourteen years old, a fairly pretty girl with big blue eyes and blonde hair that fell down in two ponytails from balls on top of her head.

She tore down the sidewalk, passing slower walking pedestrians with muttered apologies. She turned the corner without losing speed.

WHAM! She picked herself up apologizing and was about to continue when she noticed who she had bumped into.

"Darien! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going. I suppose you're going to turn around and walk away now, aren't you?" She sighed.

"Actually Serena, I did want to talk to you." Darien replied. He was a young man about twenty years old, with black hair and blue eyes that looked quietly down at the girl in front of him.

"Y..you did? W..hat about?" Oh, please let him say that he wants me back.  
Please..please! Serena looked up with hope shining clearly in her eyes.

Darien knew what she thought and hated to hurt her even more, but he had no  
choice. He looked away from her hopeful eyes, not wanting to see the shine  
leave them when she heard what he was going to say. "With the Four Sisters  
healed, Rubeus hasn't tried anything for awhile, so I am going to take a vacation. I have already gotten permission from work to take as long as I want and I am leaving in a couple hours." Without meaning to he looked into her eyes again as he said the last few words. Her eyes were still shining but now they were shining with tears instead of hope.

"H..how" she gulped, trying to hold back tears, "how long will you be gone?"

"I have a month's vacation saved up, I might take all of it."

"Why?" and now her voice was almost quiet "Why are you leaving? Is it because of me?"

"I just have to get away from everything for a while. It doesn't have anything to do with you." he lied with a straight face. In truth, it had everything to do with her and the dreams of her death in the future, but as always he couldn't tell her that. It was his decision and he needed the time to be sure he was making the right one.

Serena struggled to hold in the tears that were threatening to burst forth.

She had already learned that crying wouldn't make him change his mind. Still, she couldn't stop two tears from trickling down her face. She brushed them off quickly and tried to find another way to convince him to stay. "What about Reenie? Are you just going to leave her? What if Rubeus tries to get hold of her again?"

Darien was no longer looking at her. His eyes had darkened in pain when he saw the tears, and he did not want her to see what the thought of leaving was doing to him. "The Sailor Scouts can take care of her until I get back," he announced. "Besides, it would do you good to fight on your own for awhile. Look, I didn't tell you to debate about it. I am going and it's final. I don't know when I will be back and I don't even know where I am going. Just tell the others, especially Reenie, good-bye. I'll see you when I get back." Darien turned around and left without another word. Much longer and he would be crying as well. In fact, a lone tear fell from his eye as he thought of the girl he was leaving behind.

Serena stood staring after him for a long moment. This time she didn't try to stop the tears that were falling from her eyes. Oh Darien, why won't you tell me what I did that was so wrong? Why do you feel the need to get away from me so badly you're leaving town?

Serena started running towards school again. The tears in her eyes made her bump into more people than usual, but this time she didn't even notice.

Serena managed to get to school only five minutes late. She ran into the classroom with her eyes still clouded with tears. She didn't notice the cleaning supplies a janitor had left in the corner of the room. Her foot landed on a brush and she lost her balance. The rest of the class, very used to Serena's klutz attacks, braced themselves for the crash.

It didn't come.

Startled, everyone looked toward the back of the class. Serena was still standing, clutching the arms of the new boy who had entered just before her. He was as tall as Lita, with golden blond hair that almost touched his shoulders. Even in the boys' uniform, he looked well muscled and almost classicaly handsome. All the girls in class were sighing in envy that Serena got to be so close to him.

"Thank you" Serena said quietly looking up into eyes as blue as her own.

"You're welcome" the boy answered as he helped her sit down. "You should be more careful."

"Travis is right, Serena" Miss Haruna said from the front of the classroom. "You 'should' be more careful. You should also be earlier. You are tardy, 'again'! However, I'll let it pass this time because I haven't taken attendence yet."

Serena's (and most of the class') mouth dropped open. Miss Haruna wasn't going to give her detention?! Was there something wrong?

Molly leaned over and whispered "She's got a date tonight." That explained it.

"Now" Miss Haruna announced, "We have a new student today. Travis will you come up and tell us a little about yourself?"

Travis walked to the front of the class. "My name is Travis Watson. I am fourteen years old and just moved here from Virginia. I was born here but we moved away when I was two. I am very glad to be here and look forward to making new friends and getting good grades."

"Thank you Travis. I hope you do, as well. Now it is our habit to give new students a guide to show them around the school and explain how things work. Who would like to be Travis's guide?" At Miss Haruna's question, every girl, except one, and half the boys raised their hands. "Travis why don't you pick your guide?"

"Okay, Miss Haruna." Travis looked around at all the eager faces and focused on the one girl who did not have her hand raised. Serena sat quietly, not paying attention. It was obvious by the look on her face that her mind was a million miles away.

"Hi!" Travis said to her. Serena jumped as she was abruptly brought back to earth. "Serena, isn't it? Why don't you show me around?"

"I wouldn't be very good company today," Serena said, "you should pick someone else."

Molly and the other girls gasped in disbelief. Molly whispered over, "Are you crazy? The guy's a hunk!"

Serena and Travis ignored what was going on around them. They stared at each other for a long moment when Travis suddenly grinned. "What, my lady?" he asked, bowing low. "After saving you from the terrible brush monster, I get in reward not even a moment of your time? My heart grieves that one so fair could have so little of gratitude." As he placed his hand over his heart, he recieved the applause he was looking for. Serena laughed out loud at his overblown acting and agreed.

"Are you sure Travis?" Miss Haruna asked. "Serena is not exactly the best student in the world."

"I'm sure she will do fine as a guide. Unless, of course, you don't wish me to choose her?"

"It's your choice. Please move your desk next to hers for today." Miss Haruna was not exactly overjoyed by Travis's choice, but at least he wouldn't be taking away the attention of someone who could actually get some good out of the class. However as the morning passed, Miss Haruna noticed something unusual. Every time Serena started to doze off, or drift into a daydream, Travis would gently pull her attention back to the class. He would ask her a question just as she was about to zone out, or occasionally poke her. When Serena tried to eat her lunch at ten o'clock, Travis grabbed it and pulled it out of her reach. In fact, with Travis's help, Serena made it to lunch not only awake, but attentive as well!

At lunch, Travis gave Serena her lunch bag and left to look around a little on his own. Serena went outside where Amy and Lita were waiting for her.

"I saw you with that new boy Travis. He reminds me of..."

"My old boyfriend!" All three chorus together.

"I noticed that he actually got you to pay attention in class. I didn't think anyone could do that!" Amy said without looking up from her book. "You might actually start to get good grades if he can keep it up."

"Ha Ha Amy. Very funny." Serena said through a mouth constantly working at her lunch. "I noticed that even you had your hand raised. I thought boys took your attention away from studying."

Amy blushed lightly. "He seemed like a good student and I thought we could talk of schoolwork. That's all"

"Well if you want to talk to someone about schoolwork, why don't you talk more to Melvin? He likes schoolwork too." Serena and Lita laughed at the expression on Amy's face. "Not your idea of a fun date, huh?"

"What are you doing this afternoon?" Amy said, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Travis asked me to show him around the town after school and I said I would. Where do you think I should take him?"

"Trying to make Darien jealous?" Lita asked laughingly. She had just been making a joke and was very surprised at Serena's reaction.

Serena exploded. "As if I care what that self-centered jerk thinks! He doesn't want to see me anymore, and I don't want to see him either!"

With that, Serena burst into tears and ran off into the schoolyard.

"There must be something very wrong." Lita said worriedly "She didn't even finish her lunch."

"It's just this break up with Darien. It's made her even more emotional than usual." Amy replied quietly. "Just leave her alone right now."

"I hope your right."

WHAM! For the second time that day Serena slammed into a person while running. For the second time she got up murmuring apologies. And for the second time she looked up to see someone she knew. This time however the blue eyes she looked at were clear and smiling.

"Do you have a reason for running into me all the time or are you just trying to get to know me?" Travis waited for Serena's smile, but this time it didn't come. His smile faded as he saw the tears constantly dripping down her face. "Serena, what's wrong?"

"Nothing" she gulped. "Nothing's wrong." With that, Serena took off running once more.

Travis stared after her for a long moment. Then he started to follow her.

He found her in a secluded corner of the school yard. She was curled up against a tree, sobbing.

"Serena" he said softly "is something wrong?"

"I told you nothing is wrong. Just leave me alone." The words were difficult to understand through the sobbing, but Travis understood what she meant to say.

"Serena, if you tell me about it maybe I can help." Travis was very worried, now. In just the few hours he had known her, he had found her to be good natured and light hearted. Even taking her lunch hadn't made her mad at him. Seeing her like this was awful.

"I said 'Leave Me Alone'" she shouted, turning quickly. She moved so quickly that Travis barely even saw the hand that zipped toward him. He certainly didn't have enough time to do anything.

WHAP!! Serena stared in disbelief at the handprint that had suddenly appeared on Travis's cheek. "Oh, I'm sorry, Travis! I didn't mean to hit you. I was just angry. Oh, please don't be mad at me, please. I didn't mean it, really." WAAH! This time her crying was her normal wail, not the soft sobbing that worried Travis and would have worried any of her friends if they had heard her.

"It's okay, Serena. I shouldn't have bothered you when you said you didn't want to see anyone. I just thought that you needed someone to talk to. I'm the one that's sorry." With that Travis stood up to leave.

"No, Travis, wait. I guess I do need to talk to someone."

Travis sat down next to her. "Boyfriend trouble?"

"Yeah. How did you guess?" Serena looked up at him. She wasn't wailing anymore, but tears were still running down her cheeks.

"I remember how I felt when Jessica broke up with me. It felt like 'I' was breaking up." Travis's eyes grew distant as he remembered. "I didn't want to talk to anyone, was mad at everyone, and blamed myself for everything. Sound familiar?"

"Very. See, Darien and I were meant to be. It was fated, we both knew it and we loved each other more than anything else in the world. At least, I thought we both felt it. We were getting along great, and then..." Serena trailed off.

"And then? What happened?"

"I don't know. One day I bumped into him and he said we couldn't see each other anymore. He said he just didn't love me anymore." Serena's crying grew harder and she barely heard Travis's next question.

"Did he tell you why?"

She turned to him quickly, causing him to flinch back slightly. He still remembered the last time she moved so quickly. Serena didn't notice. "No,

he didn't. He just said he didn't love me. And...and every time we meet he turns around and walk away, like he doesn't even want to see me. But..."

"But?"

"But, every time I need him, whenever I'm in trouble, he'll be there. If I'm in danger, he'll be there to save me. Always." Serena wasn't looking at Travis anymore, her eyes distant as she thought back. "I know we had some problems. A lot of people thought he was too old for me. Especially my father. I once introduced Darien as my friend instead of my boyfriend because I knew how my father would react. I was right too. Daddy doesn't think I'm old enough to have a boyfriend my own age, much less one who is six years older."

"Six years?"

"Yes, he's twenty. And no, he isn't to old for me. Between the two of us, age has never mattered." Serena sat and thought for a long moment before she started speaking abruptly. "I know I'm immature, and I get bad grades, and I'm clumsy, and lazy, and I eat too much."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No, of course not. I knew he felt it sometimes, I could see it in his eyes, he would get annoyed with me, but it was never for long. He would just smile and we would go on. Raye is the one who keeps telling me about it." Serena was surprised at how easy it was to talk to him. This was a guy she had only met this morning and yet she was telling him things she had never told her best friends.

Travis thought for a long moment before he asked his next question. He too was surprised at how easily she was speaking to him. I guess its true what they say about it being easier to speak to someone you don't know. "What hurts you the most about breaking up with him?"

Serena's pause was even longer than Travis's as she tried to find an answer. "I think it's the fact that he never told me why. One day everything was wonderful, the next he couldn't stand to be within sight of me. And he never gave me a reason why. 'What did I do?'" she shouted to the air. "What did I do wrong that made him stop loving me? Is there something wrong with me?

Something he only saw after he got close to me? What did I do?" By the end of this speech she was whispering, caught up in questions she didn't know the answer to, she had almost forgotten Travis was even there. Until he started to speak.

"Don't!" his voice was almost harsh as he barked out the word. Serena looked up in surprise and stared at his hard face. "Don't take all the blame on yourself. It's the easiest way I know to fall into depression. It isn't all your fault. It's not even mostly your fault. Don't let yourself fall into that trap."

"What do you mean? How is it a trap?" This didn't make any sense to Serena. It had to be her fault, whose else could it be?

"Thinking like that makes you doubt yourself, believe me, I know! It sounds to me like this Darien was being a real jerk."

"Heh!" Serena said, very indignant. "Only I am allowed to call Darien a jerk!"

"Okay, okay" Travis laughed, happy to see Serena returned to normal. "One last question, alright?"

"What?" Serena said, still annoyed at the slight to 'her' boyfriend.

"What happened today to make you cry like that? Is today the day he broke up with you?" Travis cursed himself as he saw her face fall.

"No, he broke up with me a month ago. Today, he told me he was leaving on a vacation. He says its not because of me but I know he's lying. He's going away because I've been bothering him so much."

Travis just looked at the downcast girl for a long moment. "Serena" he said quietly, "it is not your fault. Repeat that with me."

"What?" Serena couldn't believe the way Travis was speaking, as if she were a child Reenie's age.

"Come on, say it. 'It is not my fault'." Serena still looked at him as if he was crazy but repeated it.

"It is not my fault. There! Happy!"

"When you believe it you will be a lot happier. Trust me. Now come on, we're going to be late back to class."

"Oh no!" Serena wailed.

"Now what?" Travis asked.

"I didn't finish my lunch! I'm so hungry! WAAH!" Serena's wail got softer as she ran for her lunch.

"I have the feeling she's back to normal." Travis chuckled quietly to himself as he watched her run. Then he stopped. "Hey, I didn't eat either!"

If anyone had been watching, they would have been very surprised. When necessary Travis could eat as fast as Serena! He could also rival her in the amount of food he ate, a feat that it had been declared absolutely impossible for a human being to do!

Serena and Travis both rushed to their seats just as the bell rang. Miss Haruna was about to tell Travis to move to another seat because it seemed that Serena was a bad influence on him, when she remembered the good influence Travis was, and decided to leave it alone. During the rest of the day she was very glad of her restraint as Travis managed to keep Serena's attention on the class.

After school, Serena said good-bye to her friends and asked that everyone meet at the temple after dinner because there was something she needed to tell them.

"You're going to tell us how your afternoon with Travis goes, aren't you?"

Lita said teasingly. She was a little apprehensive after the last time she teased Serena, but although Serena looked a little sad she came back easily.

"I really doubt you would be interested in the places we go. I mean you already know the interesting places around here. No, this is kind of important though. Please make sure that Mina and Raye are there as well. I'll bring Reenie."

Amy looked at her seriously. "I notice that you and Reenie are getting along better, is there a reason for that?"

"Yes but I'm not going to tell you what it is! There's Travis, I gotta go.

"Bye!" And with that Serena ran off.

"Any idea what it's about, Amy?" Lita asked the genius of the group.

"We'll know after dinner. Can you tell Mina? I can get Raye, but then I have to do my homework if we're going to meet after dinner. I don't want to lose any study time." Lita sighed as she agreed with Amy's plan. None of the others truly understood why Amy, the one girl who could get straight A's even without studying, felt the need to study more than anyone else in class.

Serena caught up with Travis outside of the school. "Where did you want to go first?" she asked. "We can go to the arcade, the mall, the skating rink, the chess palace, or just look at the highlights."

"Actually, my lady" falling back into his joking mode, "My dearest wish would be to sit 'neath trees of green, on grass so thick and watch the children play."

Serena thought about that for a long moment. "Do you mean you want to go to the park?"

"Indeed, fair one, thou hast found the answer to my every prayer, for I have not felt the blessed sun upon my face in far too long. Is there perhaps a placid pool of tranquillity to gaze upon as well?"

"Why do you talk like that?" Serena asked, exasperated "and if you mean a lake, yes there is."

"What you don't like my quasi-formal mode? I am hurt to the quick!" Travis somehow managed to look dejected even as he smiled.

"It sounds stupid, and it's hard to understand." Serena started walking toward the park even as she spoke.

"If you think it's hard to understand, you should try to speak it. It can tie up your tongue faster than anything I know."

"Then why do you speak like that?"

"Because it's fun, of course. Why else? Now, you did say there was a park with a lake, didn't you? And we are going to be doing what I want to do today, aren't we?" Travis was looking around as they walked. Not only did he want to know the way to the park, but he wanted to make sure she didn't suspect what he was going to do.

"Yes, of course, it is your first day after all." They had reached the front entrance to the park. It was exactly as Travis had wished, with green grass, trees, a lake and children playing.

Travis led the way to one of the picnic tables with a good view. "What if we don't get to see everything today? Will you show me around tomorrow as well?"

"I suppose I could. Now what do you want to do?" Serena sat down and put her bag next to her. She was not expecting what he did next.

Travis sat down, put down his book bag and got out his homework. "Well, what are you waiting for? We can't go anywhere else until we do our homework."

"WHAT!" Serena screeched, causing several kids to look up from where they were playing. "What do you mean homework? I thought we were going sightseeing?"

"We are going sightseeing. After we do our homework. You did promise we would do what I want today. And right now I want to get my homework done, so I don't have to do it later." Travis was grinning inside as he said this. He figured she hated doing homework and was greatly enjoying her reaction.

"Look, how about if I go do some things on my own while you're doing your homework. I'll come back in about an hour, okay?" Serena couldn't believe that Travis actually wanted to do 'homework'! Not only that, but he expected her to do it too. Homework was only supposed to be done at the last moment and put off forever if possible. That was her philosophy.

Obviously, it wasn't Travis's. "No way. You said 'we' would do whatever I wanted today. That means 'you' have to do your homework too. Don't worry,

I'll help you, but we're not leaving here until we are both finished." Travis grinned openly at the look on her face. He didn't really want to do his homework, but he was having fun forcing her to do hers. Besides, studying was always more fun if done together.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Serena's voice was resigned. "Well let's get it over with."

"Let's start with math." Travis said as he opened his math book.

"Math? I hate math. It never makes any sense. Like this problem. 3b 7 28, I mean, what is b and what are you supposed to do with it? Amy tried to explain it to me, but I just can't understand." Serena sighed in disgust while looking at the problem. She really 'had' tried to understand when Amy was explaining it to her. She was tired of getting bad grades all the time. It just didn't make any sense.

"There are only two things you've got to remember when doing these problems," Travis said. "Number one is to get the letter by itself and number two is to always be fair to both sides."

"What does that mean?" Serena said, still staring at the deadly problem in front of her.

"Number one means that your answer will have the letter on one side and a number on the other. Number two means that what ever you do to one side, you have to do to the other. Take this problem. You have to get the letter by itself. What is the letter?"

"B obviously. Not even I am that dumb."

"Just making sure that you are paying attention. Now to get the letter by itself you have to get rid of the numbers. Let's start with the seven. Looking at the problem, how would you get rid of the seven."

"Throw it away" at Travis's glare Serena looked at the problem again "Minus it?"

"Very good. Now what is rule Number two?"

"Um...be fair?"

"Very very good. Now if you are going to subtract seven from the left side what do you do to the right side?" Travis was watching her carefully as he asked this question. He knew she could get the right answer if she believed she could, but she was so used to not being able to do it that she didn't try.

"Subtract seven!" She looked to Travis to make sure she was right and then wrote out the problem once more 3b7-728-7. "Now to do the subtraction. Um..seven minus seven is zero, right?" she looked once more at Travis to make sure she was doing it right. "And twenty-eight minus seven is..um.. twenty-one!" And she wrote out the new problem 3b21. "Now what?"

"What do you think you have to do next?" When she looked blank, he asked.

"What is rule number one?"

"Um..Be fair?" One look at his face made her start thinking again. "Put the letter by itself? So I have to get rid of the three. I subtract it?" Somehow Serena had the feeling this was not the right answer and that feeling was confirmed when she looked at Travis.

"What does a number next to a letter mean?" Travis asked. Serena still looked totally confused. "It means multiply. This actually says three times b. So how do you get rid of a multiplied number?"

Serena thought about it for a long time. She almost asked him for the answer, but one look at his face convinced her that he wouldn't help her with this part. Okay, think Serena. If you subtract an added number... then you're...um...doing the 'opposite'. Without thinking she cried out "Opposite!"

Travis's smile covered his face. "Exactly right! And what is the opposite of multiplication?" Come on Serena I know you can get it

Serena didn't even stop to think, she knew. "Dividing. You divide 'both sides' by three, right?" At Travis's nod she finished the problem 3b/321/3. b7. "So b7, yes?"

Travis reached over and hugged her. "I knew you could do it. Now do the next one and remember the rules."

Serena repeated to herself Get the letter by itself and be fair, I can do this. She did the next one and yelled out loud when she got it right. Then and there she stopped complaining about doing the homework, even English. Travis was able to explain it in ways that actually made sense and they worked in companiable silence for over an hour. A silence broken only when

Serena asked a question or Travis explained a concept. With Travis's help, Serena managed to get all her homework done, and even managed to understand many of the concepts that had totally blown her mind.

"How come I could never understand this when Miss Haruna or Amy explained it?" Serena asked after they had put everything up.

"I don't want to say anything bad about them, but from what I saw today, Miss Haruna doesn't really believe you can do it. You don't either. With that attitude, it's no wonder you couldn't understand. Amy tends to talk over your head, doesn't she?"

"I guess she does. She doesn't mean to, she just can't help herself. She thinks that way, so of course she talks that way." Serena sighed as she thought of her friends and then she brightened. "Won't they be surprised when they find out I've done all my homework already!"

Travis laughed with her. "I bet you can't wait to see their faces!" He agreed. "Anyway, now that we've finished our homework, I guess that means we need to start sightseeing. Don't you agree?"

"Great! Let's start with the arcade. You do like to play video games, don't you?" Her voice made it clear that she felt video games were very important.

"I love them," he agreed truthfully, "bet I can beat you on any one you care to play."

"You're on!"

An hour later, they left the arcade. Serena looked a little down. "I can not believe you won every single game."

"I told you I could beat you. In fact, I believe I said I 'bet' I could beat you. I guess that means I get a forfeit." Travis grinned. He seemed to be doing that a lot today.

"Wait a minute! I didn't agree to bet anything."

"You said, and I qoute 'You're on'. That sounds like agreeing to a bet to me. And since we didn't specify anything before the games, I get to choose what my prize will be." As he looked at Serena, he could see that she agreed with his reasoning, but was not at all happy about it. "So your forfeit will be having to show me around town every day after school until I've seen all the good parts."

"That won't be so hard." Serena said immediately brightening then dimming again. "Does that mean we'll be doing our homework together every day too?"

"Indeed it does. Do you really mind?" Serena thought about it for a moment, and how well she'd done with his help and shook her head. "However" Travis continued. "That means that your time after school is mine, not Miss Haruna's. No detention's are allowed, so I'll be by to pick you up at 7:00 tomorrow morning." He braced himself for an explosion. He got one.

"WHAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY! 7:00! NO WAY! THERE IS NO WAY I AM GETTING UP THAT EARLY! NO WAY! DO YOU HEAR ME!" Serena yelled at the the top of her lungs. She had very loud lungs.

Andrew came out of the arcade to see where the siren was coming from. He walked up to Travis. "What did you say to her?"

"I told her I was going to pick her up at 7:00 tomorrow morning." Andrew grinned. Then Travis spoke again. "If you're not downstairs by 7:10 I'll come up there and pour a gallon of water on you."

Something extraordinary happened.

Serena shut up.

In the silence that followed, all that could be heard was Travis's final words. "I'll see you in the morning. Don't you need to be home for dinner soon?"

That night at the Tsukino house.

"Hey, meatball head, who was that boy I saw you with in the park? I saw you hug him. Is he your new boyfriend?" The little girl with pink hair and red eyes smiled as she spoke these words. She knew how Serena's father would react to them.

"Boy! You were hugging a boy? Who is he? And why haven't we met him? It's not that Darren or whatever his name is, was it? Because he's way too old for you!" Serena's father continued on like this for several minutes before Serena could get a word in edgewise.

"His name is Travis Watson, he's the same age I am, today was his first day at school and I was his guide. I was hugging him because after he conned me into doing my homework this afternoon, he showed me an easy way to do my math and I got one right all by myself. In fact, I got all my homework done and he said that all the ones he checked were right! And by the way Reenie, why were you spying on me?" Serena sat backed and waited for the information to filter through to her family.

Her father "Fourteen, huh? I suppose that's all right."

Her mother "You did your homework and got some right? I'm so proud of you!"

Her brother, Sammy "He must have done all the work if you got one right!"

Reenie "I was not spying on you. Why would I want to spy on someone like you? You never do anything interesting."

"Daddy, you wouldn't let a strange boy into my bedroom, would you?" This was an answer Serena was very interested in hearing.

"Certainly not. You're not allowed to have a boy in your room until your married. Why would you even ask?" Mr. Tsukino was a little worried. He knew his daughter was growing up, but he had no intention of letting her grow up too fast.

"Because Travis said that he was going to come by to pick me up at 7:00 tomorrow morning and if I wasn't down by 7:10 he would come up and dump water over my head. But since you won't allow a boy into my bedroom, I don't have to worry do I?" Serena was very pleased with herself for thinking that up. She soon became less pleased.

"He thinks he can wake you up and get you to school on time? In that case, I think I can make an exception for him. After all he would only be in there for a few minutes." Reenie and Sammy burst out laughing at the expression on Serena's face. Even her parents let out restrained chuckles. Serena looked like she had just bitten into a lemon.

"Look at the time. I've got to get to the temple. C'mon Reenie, you need to be at this meeting, too." Serena left quickly barely hearing her mother's "Be back before full dark."

As they walked, Serena asked Reenie how much she had seen, the week before, when the four sister's were healed. "If you're asking if I know that you're Sailor Moon, yes I do."

"Bet that surprised you, huh? Was there anything about it you wanted to ask me?" Serena looked down at the munchkin who walked by her side. All though they had started out as enemies, Serena had always felt a deep liking for the child. Not that she would tell anyone, of course.

Over the last few weeks, Serena had been adding up the facts about Reenie, the answer she came to was a very surprising one. However the more she thought of it, the more she liked it. Serena looked down once more at the child she was almost positive was her daughter. Everything added up, the crescent moon, the family hairdo, even Luna Ball, who looked almost exactly like Luna. Serena had decided not to say anything to anyone until she knew for sure, but already she loved the little girl and had started showing that love when they were alone. Reenie, for her part, had found someone who understood her, in the older girl. From the very beginning, she had felt a bond with Serena, but she was stubborn too. Both she and Serena had decided not to change anything in front of the others, but when they were alone their hands would clasp if they weren't paying attention and both would pretend not to notice. It was their secret and they were not yet ready to share it with anyone else.

"Why won't you let me have the crystal?" Reenie finally asked the question that had been building inside her for the last few days. "It's the only thing that can save my mother."

"I know sweetheart, but I need it to fight. If I gave it to you it would leave this time defenseless. It would do your mother no good in the future if the present is destroyed." Serena looked into Reenie's red eyes. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"I guess so. But how will I save her? I have to save my mommy!" Reenie started to cry as she thought of the mother she had left behind. Serena pulled her into the shadow of a tree before dropping down and enveloping her in a hug.

"Look Reenie. I promise you this. Are you listening?" Reenie nodded her head. "When Rubeus and his evil is defeated, then we will all go with you to save your mother, and I'll give her the crystal myself. Okay Reenie?"

Reenie's tears dried up as she looked into Serena's eyes and saw that she meant every word she said. "Promise?"

"In the name of the moon, Reenie. And that is a promise I will never break. Now let's get to the temple before we're later than usual."

_To be continued...  
_


	2. Maturing?

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal **

**Chapter 2:** Maturing?

Serena and Reenie set off for the temple once more. Anyone watching would have noticed they walked a little closer together. When they noticed the temple getting closer, they moved a little farther apart and grinned at each other.

Then it started.

"I still say Travis is your new boyfriend." Reenie yelled as she suddenly raced towards the temple.

"He is not! Get back here you little spore! You're supposed to stay with me!" shouted Serena as she chased after her.

"Serena's got a new boyfriend! Serena's got a new boyfriend!" Reenie caroled to the other girls gathered in front of the temple. "I even saw her hugging him!" she announced.

"Come back here you little fungus! He is not my boyfriend!" Serena's annoyed voice followed soon after.

"Oh is he why you're late this time, Meatball Head?" Raye asked sarcastically. "You called this meeting, the least you could do would be to show up on time."

"I am not late! I said to meet after dinner and we just got through. So there!" Serena put up her nose and smirked.

Raye didn't hesitate. "Well if you didn't eat enough to choke a horse, you could have been done and ready at the same time as the rest of us." The other girls and two cats sighed. They knew what was going to happen next.

"WAAH! Why are you always so mean to me, Raye? I had a really bad day." Serena's wail hit full swing as the cats covered their ears.

"Lower the decibals, Meatball Head! If you went around hugging strange guys, your day couldn't have been that bad. Of course it would have to be a strange guy, the boys that know you certainly wouldn't bother!"

"At least I have a guy to hug. The only one you have is Chad, and you're too stuck up to hug him!" And Serena stuck out her tongue as she got that dig in.

Raye immediately stuck out her tongue too and they got into a silent tongue war. The others sighed once more, they were very used to these happenings.

Reenie decided to break it up. "She hugged him because he was helping her with her homework and she got one right. In fact, she did all her homework and he checked it and said she did it 'all' right." Reenie laughed at the stares she was getting from the others. She knew how they felt. Serena actually doing her homework 'and' getting it right! Unbelievable!

"No way!" Raye yelled, breaking the tongue battle. "I refuse to believe that you actually did your homework."

"It is a little difficult to imagine." Amy agreed.

"That's wonderful, Serena, maybe your finally growing up." That was Luna, the black cat was so surprised that she forgot Reenie wasn't supposed to know about her.

"It would be about time." Raye commented.

"Raye," Mina exclaimed, "if Serena is actually starting to get interested in her schoolwork, we should encourage her."

"Guys," was Lita's addition to the conversation "that's all well and good, but I want to know what happened with Travis today."

Serena was laughing with Reenie at everyone's expression. She calmed down to explain. "He conned me into doing it. It was not my first choice, but he's very good at simplifying things so I can understand. Boy, is Miss Haruna gonna be surprised in the morning."

"Yeah, especially since you're gonna be on time for the first time in your life. Get this everyone, Travis is coming by to pick her up and if she's not awake he's going to go up and pour water on her. And Serena's father gave his permission." Reenie gleefully told the others. Raye, Mina and Lita burst into laughter at the thought.

Serena looked annoyed for a moment, then smiled. "But Reenie, you sleep in the same bed as me. That means you would get wet too." Even Amy, Luna and Artemis couldn't help laughing. It was obvious Reenie hadn't thought of that.

"Enough playing around girls," a male voice announced, "Serena must have had a reason for calling us together, and it was not to talk about her new boyfriend."

Serena's face lost all semblance of mirth. "You're right Artemis. I called this meeting to talk about my old boyfriend. He

"Look Meatball Head," Raye interupted, "we're not going to help you get him back, so you don't even need to bother to ask. If that's all, I need to get back to work."

"If you would listen, pyro," Serena shot back "you might learn something. Like the fact that I would have a hard time winning him back when I can't even see him. He took a vacation, starting this morning and he doesn't know when he will be back. And if you don't think that the fact that Tuxedo Mask isn't going to be around for awhile, important Scout business, then I guess

I don't need to be here and you can get back to work. Amy, Lita, I'll see you in the morning. Come on, Reenie."

"Wait a minute." Reenie cried running after Serena, "What did you do to him? I know it must be your fault he left. If you weren't clinging to him all the time, he wouldn't have left. Why couldn't you jus..." was the last thing the people at the temple heard as the two girls left.

Unfortunately, it was not the last thing Serena heard. Her face just got sadder and sadder as Reenie went on and on. Finally, she did what she hadn't done in almost a week, she yelled at Reenie and meant it. "Enough! I don't want to hear anymore about it. Just go home fungus, I'm sure you're old enough to find your way there by yourself." With that Serena turned and ran into the small playground they were just passing. She turned quickly, but not before Reenie saw the tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry, Serena, I didn't mean to make you cry." Reenie whispered, then her face screwed up and she started running the other way, Luna Ball following after her, and tears pouring from her eyes.

"So, all alone little Rabbit?" a sneering voice called down at her.

"Rubeus! Ho..how did you find me?" Reenie's trembling voice was clearly heard by the black cat behind her. Luna had been following her two charges back from the temple. She had seen them split up and wanted to go to Serena but knew Reenie was the one most likely to get into trouble. As she heard Reenie's words, she turned and took off at full speed in the other direction. She knew that the only chance Reenie had was her ability to find Serena in time. She ran back to the playground where they had split up and started yelling. "Serena! Serena! Where are you, Serena?"

"What do you want Luna?" Serena's resigned voice came from the darkness beneath the trees. "I suppose you're going to yell at me for leaving Reenie alone, right?"

"There's no time for that! Rubeus has found Reenie again!"

"Where?" Serena cried out as she started to run in the direction Luna had come from. She pulled out her locket and yelled "MOON CRYSTAL POWER". The transformation was over almost as fast as it started, but it was still too slow for Serena. She knew it was her fault Reenie was all alone and her run got even faster as a bolt of white energy split the heavens. "Reenie's energy! She must be really scared." She pulled out her communicator. "Everybody, Reenie's in trouble again, transform and get over here."

As she was putting up her communicator, she reached the clearing. Rubeus was still gloating over the helpless child. "So you think the Sailor Scouts will be here to save you, do you? I really doubt they'll get here in time.

Well it's time to go." With that he floated down towards Reenie.

"Hold it right there, Negatrash," a voice called out from the darkness. "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice, and protector of innocents like this one. In the name of the Moon, I Will Punish You!" And as she spoke the last words, she jumped down in front of Reenie and pointed at Rubeus.

"Sailor Moon, you're here!" Reenie cried as she ducked behind her savior.

"Of course I'm here. I promised I always would be" she smiled as she spoke to the munchkin, then her voice got hard as she turned toward Rubeus. "Why don't you just give it up?" she asked. 'The Sailor Scouts will never allow you to get your hands on her, and your assistants have returned to the side of good! You're all alone, so just give up."

"Never! I will never give up. The Wiseman has entrusted the capture of the Rabbit to me and I will 'not' fail!" Rubeus didn't notice Sailor Moon reach for her tiara and whisper the words "MOON TIARA" Unfortunately before she finished, "Droid Robotica, come forth!" As the Droid stepped forward, Rubeus laughed "Destroy this pathetic Sailor Scout and bring the Rabbit to me!" With that Rubeus teleported back to his ship, hanging cloaked in the night sky and watched through a viewing portal.

Sailor Moon changed her target as Rubeus left. "MAGIC" she cried as the magical discus flew towards the unsuspecting droid. Robotica seemed to be living metal. Covered in a dull silver sheen, she looked extremely powerful. An impression that was increased when red laser beams shot from her eyes, impacting the tiara in midflight and destroying it.

"Is that the best you can do?" her cold voice asked unemotionally. She started walking towards the two girls.

Sailor Moon stared in disbelief. She was about to start running when she heard a sniffle behind her. Her resolve firmed, but wavered as she saw Robotica's eyes turning in her direction. She grabbed Reenie and threw them both in the opposite direction as the laser beams that had targeted them blew up the tree behind their last position.

Reenie looked up at Sailor Moon from where they lay in the dirt. "Sailor Moon, your tiara is back," she said happily.

"Yeah, it always comes back," Sailor Moon fell silent as she rolled them to another position. "I wonder...Reenie will you do me a favor?" Reenie's earnest nod was all the answer she needed.

"I'm going to throw my tiara again. As soon as I take it off, start counting. I need to know how long it is until it reappears. Can you do that?"

Reenie waited until they moved once more, the lasers impacting behind them.

"Of course I can, I won't let you down!"

Sailor Moon reached for her tiara again. "MOON TIARA MAGIC" Halfway to the droid it was destroyed. "How long Reenie?" Saior Moon asked, conscious that she had not heard the little girl count.

Reenie gulped, "None, it never left your head!"

Sailor Moon stared down at Reenie, so shocked that they almost got hit by a laser beam, before she snapped out of it. "So, I wonder how many it can hit." Then she started throwing. "MOON TIARA MAGIC" "MOON TIARA MAGIC" "MOON TIARA MAGIC" disk after disk raced towards the droid. It hit the first four but the fifth one got through, slicing its arm, the eighth one impacted its body and weakened it a little. However, after ten attacks in a row, Sailor Moon didn't have the energy left to form another one. The droid sensed this and started towards the helpless girls. Sailor Moon did the only thing she could think of, she threw herself over Reenie and wailed. The droid stepped closer, "The Rabbit is mine. The master will be pleased."

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" came from the darkness. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" followed immediately. The voices were almost lost in the roar as a stream of fire and a disk of lightning impacted the droid.

"Finish it Sailor Moon" Mars cried out "What are you waiting for?"

"Right!" Sailor Moon answered getting unsteadily to her feet. I hope I have enough energy to do this she thought hazily as she pulled out her scepter. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" and she sent the last of her energy at the droid. It collapsed into a pile of dust.

"You saved me, Sailor Moon, thank you" Reenie said as Sailor Moon quickly sat down in exhaustion.

"Thank 'you' Reenie for your help." She looked away. "I'm sorry I left you alone. I

"You left her 'alone'! How could you?" Mars' voice cut through their conversation like a knife. "I thought even an airhead like you could be trusted to do something as simple as walking her home!"

"Yes, Sailor Moon," Sailor Mercury agreed, "that was very irresponsible of you."

"We did kind of expect better than that, Sailor Moon. You knew that Rubeus was still after Reenie, why did you leave her alone?" Sailor Jupiter said.

That hurt a lot worse than Sailor Mars' words. Jupiter was one of the people that could usually be counted on to back Sailor Moon no matter what.

"Look guys, give her a chance to explain, maybe she did have a good reason," Sailor Venus didn't really believe it, she knew their leader as well as the rest of them, but felt that somebody had to defuse the situation. She got some unexpected help.

"Yes Sailor Moon, it was very irresponsible," Luna's voice was closely followed by her appearance. "But, I would like to congratulate you. You actually concieved and carried out a plan!" To the other Scouts. "She figured out that she could have more than one tiara in the air at a time. She sent so many at the droid that it couldn't compensate and several got through to hurt it." The other Scouts looked on in disbelief.

"Very good, Sailor Moon, maybe you are maturing a little." Mercury said.

"Not bad, Meatball Head, but maybe if you weren't so lazy you could have done some actual damage." Mars' voice was still sarcastic. "Look at you sitting on the ground like that. Why don't you get up? Your mother is going to be wondering where you are."

"Why are you always so mean to me? You try thirteen full strength attacks in two minutes and we'll see how tired you are. And it wasn't such a great plan Luna, it failed didn't it?" Sailor Moon powered down and started stumbling home.

"Yeah, why are you always so mean to her?" Reenie asked. "She saved me again and it was my fault she left. I didn't mean to hurt her like that," she announced to the others as she ran to catch up to Serena.

"Maybe we were a little hard on her." Mercury agreed. "I'm going to apologize in the morning."

"Me too," Jupiter agreed. "Besides, I want to know if Travis can actually get her up on time!" Everyone laughed as they split up to go home.

In a ship, orbiting above Tokyo, Rubeus watched as the scouts left the range of his vision. He turned from the mirror where he had been watching the fight. "So Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts don't always get along, huh?

I wonder if that can be used to my advantage. Tuxedo Mask didn't show up, either." He turned to a summoning portal. "Master" he called. Soon a man dressed in a dark robe that covered all of him except the skeletal hands holding a globe appeared.

"What is it Rubeus? Dare I hope you have captured the princess, or at least a crystal point." The Wiseman's voice was deeper than what would be expected from a person his seeming age.

"Unfortunately not, Wiseman. I but called to tell you that your plan seems to be working. Tuxedo Mask did not show up for the fight tonight. Those dreams you have been sending him must have worked."

"Don't suppose. If he doesn't show up within the next week, then you can suppose. I am very happy that it seems to be working, however, that is not a good enough reason to summon me." The Wiseman's eyes seemed to glow from beneath the hood. "It is important that I am not distracted from the fight in the future."

"Indeed, Master, I did have another reason." Rubeus's voice grew slightly afraid, he did not like asking favors. "Watching the Scouts after they defeated my droid, I noticed that they seemed to fight often with Sailor Moon. In fact, they were questioning her leadership ability. I was wondering if you could place dreams in their minds that would make them doubt her even more. If we could break up the Sailor Scouts they would be easily defeated."

The Wiseman seemed to think for a long moment. "It sounds like a good plan. And it would not take much power." He thought some more. "Very well, it will take me about a week to craft the dreams. Have a droid ready, a week from today, and I will give them the dreams as they fight. I hope they dream well for the next few days. Their dreams after that will certainly not be." Rubeus and the Wiseman laughed at the thought. The Wiseman faded away until all that was left was the echo of his evil laughter.

The next morning at the Tsukino house DING DONG! The front doorbell rang at exactly seven o'clock. Mrs. Tsukino opened the door. Standing on the doorstep was a young man. "Well, hello, you must be Travis." she said smiling. "Serena said you would be coming by this morning, why don't you come in and I'll see if she's awake."

Travis smiled back at Serena's mother. "Try telling her I decided to add some ice cubes to the water, just in case," he said grinning. "That will probably get her up!"

"It might, indeed." Mrs. Tsukino agreed. She could tell that she would like this boy, even though she was a little surprised at how well he seemed to know her daughter. She seated him on the couch as she went upstairs.

Mr. Tsukino came into the room. "So you're the young man who actually got my daughter to do her homework, hmm? Why did you want her up so early?"

"Well sir," Travis said, with no hint of his usual joking manner, "I bet Serena that I could beat her on any game she chose at the arcade. I won, and her forfeit is that she has to show me around town every afternoon this week. So I told her that her time was mine and not Miss Haruna's and I would be by to make sure she didn't have detention."

"Do you like my daughter, Travis?" Mr. Tsukino asked, still serious, although he had smiled at Travis's explanation.

"She's a very nice girl and fun to be with," Travis answered carefully. "She's my first new friend in this town and at the moment I need 'friends'." He stressed the last word carefully and Mr. Tsukino understood.

"Yes," he agreed, "friends are always a nice thing to have."

From upstairs a voice was heard, it was a voice that had very rarely, if ever, been heard at this time of the morning. "ICE! I'm up, I'm up!"

Five minutes later Serena came downstairs. She glared at Travis. "Are you happy now? I'm up." She stomped into the kitchen.

"Hey," he answered, "think of it this way, at least you have time for breakfast."

"That's right, Serena" her mother calmly said "now sit down before it gets cold. Travis would you like something to eat?"

"I don't want to impose." Travis said declining. Unfortunately his gesture was negated when his stomach grumbled. Loudly.

"It won't be any imposition." Serena's mother answered. "It sounds like you need some food in you, didn't you eat before you came over here?"

"Um, no" Travis mumbled "Ikndforslt"

"What was that," Serena's mother asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"I said, I kind of overslept." Serena burst out laughing, spraying food over half the table.

"Serena please don't laugh with your mouth full." Mrs. Tsukino corrected as she placed a plate full of food in front of Travis. "I understand you just moved here, Travis, where from?"

Travis waited until he swallowed before answering. "I lived in Virginia from the time I was two, but I was born here."

"Why did you move back?" Travis was quiet for several seconds.

"My parents died in a terrorist attack in Iran and my new guardian lives here."

"Oh, I'm sorry Travis, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." Serena's mother looked embarrassed at having asked so sensative a question.

"Actually, I barely knew my parents, I was raised by the staff until I was five and then I went to boarding schools." Travis hurriedly stuffed more food into his mouth.

"Boarding schools! And so young too. I guess you're parents were very busy people." It was almost a question, but not quite, leaving it entirely up to Travis whether to answer or not.

"Father was a diplomat, he went all over the world. However, it was made very clear to me when I was younger that even if they had lived in the U.S.

I would still have been in the boarding schools." At the expression on Travis's face, Mrs. Tsukino decided to stop asking questions. Serena was not that sensitive.

"Why?" Serena asked after swallowing her food. Her mother tried to hush her but it was too late.

"Several reasons, I think." Travis answered quietly, forgetting his breakfast for a moment. "Number one, I'm adopted and they never let me forget that the only reason they adopted me was because Father needed an heir. They said I should be thankful that they had taken me in and not to expect anything except a home and name from them, but that that should be enough for anyone." He looked at his watch. "We need to leave soon if we want to be at school on time," he said to Serena.

They both gave their attention to their food, and the rest of the family looked on in disbelief at the amount of food they could eat in five minutes. Sammy commented on it, "He can eat as much as Serena."

As they finished, Travis said "Go get your homework, Serena then we can go."

"Homework? Where did I put my homework? I've got to go look for it." With that Serena ran upstairs and the sounds of a room being torn apart could be heard. Travis shook his head and dropped it into his hands.

Mrs. Tsukino laughed as she looked at Travis. He looked like a picture of dejection. "You get used to this if you spend much more time with her. Be proud, you may not get her to school in time, but you 'were' able to get her to do her homework and wake up. No one else has ever managed that much." Her voice got serious again, "I'm sorry she asked you to talk about your past. She can be a little insensitive at times."

Travis smiled at Serena's mother. "If I hadn't wanted to answer, I wouldn't have." he answered. "Besides she talked about herself yesterday, it's only right I do the same. I'll tell you the rest tomorrow morning, okay?"

Just then Serena ran down the stairs with her homework clasped in her hands. She grabbed her lunch and Travis's hand as she ran through the kitchen.

"ThanksforthedeliciousbreakfastMom.Gottogoorwe'llbelate." And they ran out the door and down the street.

_To be continued...  
_


	3. Dreams and Disclosures

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter 3:** Dreams and Disclosures

The week following Travis's arrival was relatively quiet. Relatively.

"I suppose it's too much to hope you have your homework, Serena." Miss

Haruna said without paying too much attention as she passed her.

"Here it is Miss Haruna!" Serena grinned as she turned in the papers it had taken her so long to find that morning.

"Very good, Serena! And I noticed you were on time this morning, I hope your habits are improving!" Miss Haruna started muttering to herself as she turned away Serena being on time 'and' doing her homework? The world must be coming to an end.

"Hi guys" Serena called out as she dragged Travis up the steps of the temple.

"About time you showed up, Meatball head." Raye called from the steps. "I didn't think even a new boyfriend could get you here in time."

"Travis, you've met Amy and Lita, these are the rest of my friends, the blonde is Mina and the sarcastic one is Raye." She walked up to Raye as she spoke "And he is NOT my boyfriend!" She shouted into her face.

"Okay, okay, sheesh" Raye muttered. "You sure spend enough time with him."

"Mreow" came commandingly from the white cat on Mina's shoulder.

"Oh, yeah" Serena said, "he's Artemis."

"One question, Travis" Mina asked winningly "Would you really pour water on her?" Everyone listened intently for an answer.

"Of course! I must do all in my power to save her from the dreaded detention." Travis announced in ringing tones.

"Not again," Serena sighed.

"I'm surprised you'd want to spend so much time with the hyena, here." Raye said.

"Hyena? You dare to denounce the fair lady's honor by describing her as such an uncouth beast? En garde!" He picked up a branch and waved it around like a sword. Everyone laughed.

"No Serena," Travis said patiently, "Canada is not a state in the United States it's an entirely different country. Look, try to remember it this way."

"Hello Mrs. Tsukino, is Serena up?" Travis asked as he walked in the door.

Early morning breakfasts at Serena's house had become common.

"I'm afraid I wasn't able to get her up this morning, Travis." Mrs. Tsukino said as she walked in from the kitchen. She was interested to see if Travis would do as he had threatened.

"Do you have a pitcher?" Travis asked grinning. She grinned as well as she handed it to him and showed him Serena's room. Mr. Tsukino added his grin to the group as he saw Travis outside his daughter's door with a pitcher of water. Travis went in.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!"

"YYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!"

"Sorry, Luna, I didn't see you there."

"Actually they needed an heir to get money from my grandfather's will. Most people weren't aware that they weren't my real parents." Travis announced to the Tsukino's at breakfast. "Time to go Serena. Do you have your homework?"

"It's right here." Serena announced as she gulped down one last piece of toast and they left. "Your mother seems to get a little uptight whenever I talk about being adopted. Do you know why?" Travis asked as they walked to school.

"She's probably afraid I'll figure out that I'm adopted. She's never said a word about it, so I think she doesn't want me to know. Of course I've known since I did a family tree in third grade." She smiled at Travis, "It doesn't take a genius to realize it is not possible for there to be a blond in the family when there has never been one before."

"You could be a mutation."

Serena stuck out her tongue at him. "I found my adoption papers two years ago when I was searching for my birthday present."

"It doesn't bother you?" Travis asked seriously.

Serena answered just as seriously. "Families are made of love, Travis, my family loves me. Nothing else matters." Then she spoiled her suddenly mature pose by giggling "Besides as long as the others don't know, I get to be the only one with a normal family."

"WHOA! What a cool house! And you live here all alone!" Serena stared in awe at the mansion that stood in front of her.

"Most of the time, when my guardian is out of the country. He trusts me."

Travis fell back into his joking mode. "Follow, fair lady as I show you my humble abode."

HA HA HA HA HA HA HEE HEE HOHHOHOHO! Travis shook his head. Now I know why Raye called her a hyena, she does laugh like one. Reminder to self, next time hide the comics.

"What is that?" Serena screeched. She ducked behind Travis as a large falcon dropped down onto his upheld wrist.

"This? This is a golden falcon. He's my guardian's. His name is Apollo."

Travis looked at the cowering girl. "Don't be such a baby; he's not going to hurt you. Just...don't tell anyone about him, okay? I don't think it's quite legal to have one of these." However it was obvious that Serena had already forgotten about the falcon.

"How come you always call him your guardian, instead of by his name?"

Serena asked quizically. "I don't think I've ever heard his name, isn't that weird?"

"I just didn't think it was important." Besides I didn't want you to get into another wailing fit Travis took a deep breath, threw Apollo into the air, shot a warning glance at Luna, who was trying her best to stay out of the falcon's eyesight (having heard that falcons had been known to eat kittens) and said it. "His name is Darien Jacobson."

"Darien? WHHAAAAAAAAHHHHH I miss my Darien! When is he coming home?"

Serena immediately started crying when she heard the name. Apollo, who had been circling, screeched and flew straight away from the awful noise.

Travis had covered his ears even as he said the name. After only a couple days, he knew the response he would get if anything reminded her of her ex.

"Hi Reenie," Travis said as he saw the distinctive pink hair and floating ball of the child in front of him. "I thought you weren't supposed to be by yourself." Several times over the past week, Serena had been required to watch Reenie and Travis knew of her fear of letting Reenie be alone, although he had never gotten the exact reason from her.

"Hi Travis," Reenie replied, the two had become friends over the early morning breakfasts. "I thought 'you' weren't supposed to be by yourself, from the amount of time you spend with Serena."

"Serena had a meeting with the other girls this afternoon. Do you want to do something?" Travis slowed down so the little girl didn't have any trouble keeping up. "There's that ice cream place just down this hill, you do like ice cream, don't you? Besides, then you can brag to Serena that you got me to buy it for you. I'll bet she would be jealous."

"Yeah! Let's!" Reenie didn't hesitate as she skipped along next to Travis. She knew Serena trusted him, and for once Reenie agreed with her.

"91!! I got a 91! YAHOOOO!" Serena threw her arms around Travis.

"Thank you! Thank you! I couldn't have done it without you! YES!! I can't wait to show this to mom."

"I know you're glad of the grade, Serena and it 'should' make you proud, but please save the shouting until you get out of school." Miss Haruna said just as the last bell sounded. She sat down quickly once the students left the classroom. She couldn't believe it either. She had checked the test three times and seperated Serena and Travis before the test. I was right on Tuesday! Serena was on time every day this week, had her homework and it was right, 'and' got a B on a test. The world 'is' coming to an end!

**Sunday Afternoon A space ship above Tokyo**

"Rubeus" a voice called from the darkness.

"Yes Wiseman?" a second voice answered as Rubeus turned from the portal he had been watching.

"I have the dreams ready, send down your droid." The Wiseman chuckled as he waved his hands above his ever present crystal ball. Things had been going well in the future, the protectors of the Crystal Palace were losing energy, they wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. Even if this didn't destroy them in this time.

"Droid Hurrica," Rubeus called forth a new droid. "Go down to Earth and destroy the Sailor Scouts."

"Yes Master," a breathy voice answered as the blue skinned droid turned into a miniture tornado and flew into the middle of downtown Tokyo. "We can watch from this viewing portal." Rubeus said moving to one of the archways that looked down on Tokyo.

Raye and Mina were window shopping. "Good thing Serena isn't here," Mina said passing a chocolate store. "We would never get her out of there."

"Ain't that the truth," Raye agreed, "Where is she anyway? Still in bed trying to sleep off a week of getting up early? I would've thought you'd ask her to join us."

"I did," Mina announced, "when I saw her at '8:30' this morning. You know we should give Travis a medal, he had actually talked her into going jogging this morning!"

"I think she's spending way too much time with Travis. For a girl who's sure she can't live without her 'one true love' she sure didn't waste any time finding a new guy!" Raye's sarcasm covered over a true feeling of betrayal. She had given Darien up to Serena because she knew that they were meant to be together. To see her with another boy after 'that' anguish was

a little much.

"They do seem to be together an awful lot, don't they? In fact she's going over to his house this afternoon, that's why she's not with us. I did hear something interesting about him, though. Wanna hear it?" Mina looked at Raye out of the corner of her eye. Although Raye pretended to be above such things because she was a priestess, Mina knew Raye was almost as big a gossip as her and Lita.

"What could be interesting about him?" Raye asked grumpily. "Is he incredibly rich or something?"

"Actually, yes he is, he lives in one of those mansions on the hill and he lives there practically alone. But that's not the interesting thing." Mina was smiling to herself. She was going to make Raye beg for this tidbit.

"What else could possibly be interesting about him? Let me guess, he has a girlfriend he hasn't told Serena about and she's going to get her heart broken again?"

Mina looked sharply at Raye, it sounded like Raye almost hoped for that to happen. Nah, couldn't be. She was just being sarcastic like usual. "I heard, from a very reliable source, that when Travis eats at the Tsukino house, he eats as much 'and' as fast as Serena!"

"You're kidding! That's not possi.." Raye was stopped by sounds of screaming from around the corner. "This sounds bad, we'd better check it out." The two girls peeked around the corner. "Another droid, oh well, we've had a week without one, I was actually getting a little bored. I was afraid Rubeus had given up. You'd better call the others, I'm going to give this Negatrash a piece of my mind."

"MARS STAR POWER"

"Wait up, Mars!" Mina exclaimed as she pushed the 'all call' on her communicator. "There's a droid attacking downtown, me and Mars are already here and will hold it until you get here." She pulls out her transformation wand. "VENUS STAR POWER"

In a house on a hill, Serena looked in disgust at her watch as it beeped. She had been in the middle of an excellent video game, and the beeping had made her die. She sighed.

"What's that, Serena? Did you have something to do that you forgot about?"

Travis asked interested. If her watch alarm could always get her attention like that why didn't she use it more often?

"Um...yeah! Something I forgot, you know my memory. It's very important, I got to go. Look I'll see you in the morning alright." Serena babbled as she ran out the door. Travis looked after her for a moment, then saw Serena's books sitting next to him on the couch, they'd planned to do some studying later. I'd better get these to her or she'll use not having them as an excuse for getting a bad grade. He set off after her. He reached the front door in time to see her look around carefully. Surprised by this, he watched from the window as she looked around once more and raised her hand to her face. She seems to be talking to her wrist? I know she's weird but this goes a little far. Then he just stared in shock as he heard the last words she spoke.

"I'll be right there. MOON CRYSTAL POWER" Travis stared in utter disbelief as the transformation overtook her. Where Serena had stood was now a girl dressed in a shorter version of her normal school uniform, but this was no ordinary girl. Even in America, Travis had heard of the Sailor Scouts. He was an avid fan, collecting all the information on them he could and the idea that clumsy, forgetful Serena! Was Sailor Moon was impossible to believe. As Sailor Moon ran out the front gate, Travis followed. He didn't plan to, he hadn't even thought about it, but his brain had been knocked for a loop with the new information and his body took over and ran after the receding Scout.

Travis heard the sounds of battle coming from in front of him. Sailor Moon had just blasted around the corner full speed, but Travis had regained control of himself by this time and stopped at the corner to peek around it. After looking at the destruction that had already been caused, he was very glad he did. The other Sailor Scouts were already there; faced off against a weird monster with blue skin, white hair and no legs. Where her legs should be there was a twister. As he watched, a blast of air came from her hands and hit Sailor Mars.

"Mars!" Sailor Moon cried out. "You're going to pay for that, Nega-slime! I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice! For disturbing people and ruining shopping trips, I will punish you!" She stood there thinking for a moment.

"Oh, yeah, I knew I had forgotten something. In the name of the Moon I will right wrongs and triumph over evil. And that means you."

Travis dropped his head into his hands, the Scouts weren't much better.

"About time you showed up, Sailor Moon! What took you so long?" Travis looked up sharply at that, he knew that voice, had heard it say almost those exact same words before. Raye! Sailor Mars has 'got' to be Raye! Nobody else talks to Serena like that. Then the others must be, yep there's Amy as Mercury, Lita is Jupiter I should have guessed, and that leaves Mina as Venus. I 'cannot' believe this. He sat back to watch the action.

"MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH" Mercury called out, power coming from her hands in a visible wave of cold. The droid started spinning faster, creating a wall of wind in front of her, the ice storm hit Hurrica's wind wall and left, faster than it came, heading straight at Sailor Moon. When the cold hit her, she was thrown backwards, her skin turning almost as blue as the droid's from cold. "Oh, Sailor Moon, I'm so sorry!" Mercury cried out as she ran over to her frozen friend.

"You're gonna pay for that, monster." Sailor Mars yelled at the droid, "Let's see how you deal with fire! MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" she shouted and circles of fire headed straight for the droid. Unfortunately, the droid had no more trouble with fire than she did with ice. In a repeat of her earlier move, the wind wall came up and the fires were deflected ...at Sailor Moon! Mars desperately tried to call back her flames as they raced towards her leader. To know avail. Sailor Moon's screams attested to that.

Mercury pulled Sailor Moon behind a collection of garbage cans as she desperately tried to find out how much damage had been done. She was very surprised at what she discovered. The two attacks had pretty much canceled each other out! The ice attack had not had enough time to really freeze her before the fire had thawed her out, and the ice in her system kept the fire from doing much damage. Although she was in a lot of pain, it was nothing dangerous! Sailor Mercury sighed in relief.

"Mercury, how is she?" Sailor Jupiter called out as soon as she reappeared. Behind the corner, Travis waited as breathlessly for the report as the Scouts did. It had been all he could do not to go running to try to save her when he saw her attacked. He would have gone to her, if he didn't know that all he could do would be to distract the Scouts at a time when they needed all their attention on the enemy. He drooped in relief as he heard Amy's answer.

"She'll be fine. The two attacks reacted favorably with each other and cancelled each other out." Sailor Mercury came forward as she spoke, her computer and visor working to find a weak spot in this monster before anyone else got hurt. "Sailor Venus, try your attack at her, you're attack is solid so the wind wall shouldn't be able to stop it. I would suggest, however, that everyone else get ready to jump, just in case."

"All right. VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" The chain was caught up in the wind wall, but instead of shooting back out just circled the droid. When the droid dropped the wall the chain collapsed inward, catching her and dropping her to the ground.

"Now!" Jupiter cried using her own technique before Hurrica could recover.

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" was quickly joined by "MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH" and "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND." The three attacks hit the droid one right after the other.

"No," the droid screamed, "you can't kill me!" She tried to get her wind powers back up but before she could "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" and a beam of light turned her into dust.

"Sailor Moon, are you okay?" Sailor Mars's voice was uncharacteristically worried, but Sailor Moon didn't notice.

"Yes, I am, no thanks to you! I know you don't like me much, 'pyro', but you didn't have to fry me!" Sailor Moon turned around and walked away wailing.

"Huh, try to be nice and what does she do?" Sailor Mars muttered, turning back to the others. "Aren't we supposed to be shopping? Let's get to it."

"I wonder why the droid was here," Mercury muttered to herself.

"What did you say, Mercury?" Jupiter asked as she seperated from Mars and Venus, who were trying to find somewhere to detransform without anyone seeing them.

"I said, why did that droid attack like this. It wasn't after energy, it wasn't after a particular place, and it wasn't after Reenie. It doesn't make any sense." Mercury still had her computer out trying to scan 'something' that would make the attack make sense.

"Who cares why it was here. As Sailor Moon would say, it's moondust, so why worry?" Sailor Jupiter pulled Mercury away from the scene as more people came out of hiding. "We need to get out of here before people start asking questions. Let's go."

**In the floating spaceship**

The Wiseman was staring through the viewing portal in disgust. "Blast! Sailor Moon wasn't in sight for long enough to me to get a fix on her. The others will start dreaming tonight. It should be enough." He turned to Rubeus. "Hit them and keep hitting them, I want them more on edge and paranoid. The dreams will turn them against Sailor Moon, so try to put her in situations that put her in a bad light."

"As you will, Wiseman." Rubeus bowed as the Wiseman disappeared back into his own time. "I think I will give it a few days for the dream to get settled in and so I can call forth enough droids when the time is right."

**Back on Earth**

Sailor Moon turned the corner, fuming over Mars's incompetence, then stopped dead in her tracks. "Hi, Tr...I mean is there something I can do for you, sir?" she stammers.

"Hi, Serena, you left your books at my house, so I thought I would just return them." Travis's grin looked like it would split his face, while Sailor Moon just looked totally shocked.

"Serena? I don't know what you mean. My name is Sailor Moon."

"I saw you transform, Serena. You shouldn't have done it in front of my house if you didn't want me to see." Travis's grin turned to shock at what happened next.

"Sailor Moon, you shouldn't have just walked away like that! You know it wasn't Mars's fault..." Luna stuttered to a halt as she saw why Sailor Moon was standing there.

"Is it my imagination, or did Luna just speak?" Travis said while staring at Luna with a shocked expression on his face. Sailor Moon started laughing.

"It's not that funny."

"After the way you scared me! It is that funny! Sorry, Luna, I checked to make sure no one was watching but I obviously missed him. He saw me transform." Sailor Moon stepped into a nearby alley and Serena stepped out.

"Why don't you explain things to him, Luna?"

Luna sighed and began, "It all started a thousand years ago..."

That night the Scouts dreamed. The Wiseman had done his job well, he didn't know enough about the Scouts to create a dream for each of them, so instead he gave them an idea and let their own subconcious create the dream.

_Raye dreamed..._

The Scouts , except for Sailor Moon, were in a fight with a new droid composed entirely of shadows. They were fighting as hard as they could, but the monster didn't seem to feel any of their attacks. Suddenly it attacked, a wave of darkness spun out of its very being and hit Venus as she was powering up for another attack. Then Sailor Moon appeared and easily destroyed the monster. She explained that she had been playing this really cool video game at the arcade and couldn't come until she finished.

Then Sailor Mercury announced that Venus was dead. Mars shouted, "It's all your fault, she wouldn't be dead if you weren't so lazy and irresponsible! I refuse to have someone for a leader who doesn't care what happens to us!"

Raye bolted awake. Don't be silly, she's not 'that' irresponsible, is she?

_Amy dreamed..._

"I'm sorry, Ms. Mizuno, your test scores simply were not high enough to get you into the top colleges. You should not have spent so much time with that Tsukino girl, she really brought your grades down." Serena responded "What's the big deal? It's not that important."

"It's all your fault, Serena, if I hadn't had to spend so much time getting you out of trouble, I would be able to get into the college I wanted to. Now I'll never become a doctor!" Amy screamed to an uncaring Serena.

Amy woke up. Serena doesn't bring down my grades that much, does she?

_Lita dreamed..._

The Sailor Scouts were in the middle of a fight. A droid had attacked the mall and Ken, as well as several other civilians, were caught in the middle. The Scouts were doing a good job and it would only be a few more minutes until the droid was destroyed. Sailor Moon was hiding behind Jupiter as she got ready to throw her own attack. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP"

As the last sylable left her lips, Sailor Moon had one of her infamous klutz attacks, tripped over her own feet and knocked into Jupiter, throwing off her aim. Lita watched in utter disbelief as elecricity hit the group of civilians and they screamed. A minute later, Sailor Moon finished off the droid. By then it was too late. Jupiter rushed over to her best friend and held his lifeless body. Her face was covered with tears as she screamed "It's all your fault! If you weren't so clumsy, he would have been okay. It's all your fault."

Lita opened her eyes, she could feel the tears still pouring down her face. It was just a dream. Something like that would never happen, would it?

_Mina dreamed..._

Artemis was sitting looking up at the moon. "What's the matter, Artemis?" "Oh, just remembering when we led the Scouts up on the moon." "When we led the Scouts?" "Never mind." "ARTEMIS!"

"Okay, okay, Venus was the leader of the Scouts, that's why you had a guardian. Hadn't you ever wondered why only you and Serena have guardians?"

"So, why is Serena leader now?"

"Because she is the Princess, of course, she never fought on the moon. It wasn't considered proper."

"I would be leader, huh? Must have been nice."

"You seemed to like it. But Serena fights now, so of course she leads."

"It's all her fault, isn't it? If she didn't fight, she wouldn't be the leader."

Mina dreamed on.

_And Travis dreamed..._

Of a story he had heard, a silver kingdom and a princess who was the most important person in the world to him.

_Serena dreamed..._

Of her kingdom and a young prince that she had loved from the moment she was born. Serena awoke. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up immediately. So that's who he is! I've got to talk to him. She got out of bed, careful not to wake Reenie and got dressed. Then she picked up Luna and started carrying her downstairs. After a week, getting her homework was automatic, so she grabbed it as she went by. She absentmindedly scribbled a note to her parents and shushed Luna.

Luna was getting a little alarmed at this uncharacteristic action. She looked at the clock as they passed. 6:00! What is she doing up this early?

"Serena, is something wrong?"

"No, Luna, I just have to talk to Travis." And Serena sat off at a jog to Travis's house. She got there and rang the bell. In less than two minutes, the door opened and Travis stood there. They stared at each other for a long moment before Serena threw herself into Travis's arms and hugged him like she was never going to let him go. Travis looked like he would be quite happy if that happened. Luna just got even more worried.

Serena finally looked up to see the expression on Luna's face. Her laughter brought Travis's head up as well. Still, they didn't let go of each other as Serena smiled mistily at her guardian. "What, Luna? You mean you don't remember him?"

"Remember him?" Luna asked, totally confused. "Should I remember him? Was he from the Moon Kingdom?"

"You could say that. He's my twin brother, Prince Tranquillity!"

_To be continued..._

Who is Prince Tranquillity? and how come no one remembered him till now? Are the dreams really going to break up the Scouts? Find out next time in... No forget that I messed up. We're going to wait for those answers. What has Darien been doing on his vacation? Find out in Chapter Four Darien's Quest.


	4. Darien's Quest

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Four:** Darien's Quest

The phone rang.

Darien sat up quickly, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his brain. The dream had not had time to go all the way through before the phone had awoken him. He had not had to live through the death of his love again this night, at least. For a moment, he was grateful to the person on the other end of the phone that had woken him. Then he looked at the clock.

"Who would be calling at this time of the night?" he asked aloud. Then, all sleepiness was banished as his mind came up with one reason for a call in the middle of the night. Something must have happened to Serena he thought fearfully.

"Hello" he asked, almost timidly, as he picked up the phone.

"Hey, Darien, I was starting to think you weren't there!" a cheery voice came over the line. "Why'd it take you so long to answer?"

Darien's mind was trying to come up with a name for the voice. Once he had realized nothing drastic was happening, all he wanted was sleep. Finally, the tone and accent combined into a face. "Michael" he said very quietly, "I really hope you have a good reason for calling me at three in the morning!" By the end of the sentance Darien was shouting.

"Three?" Michael gulped, "I'm sorry, I guess I got the time change mixed up. Oh well, now that you're up, don't you even want to know why I've called?"

Darien laughed, he never could stay mad at Michael. Michael had been an exchange student last year and the two boys had become friends. Both felt seperated from everything around them, Michael from being so far away from everything he knew, and Darien because of the accident so long ago, that took away both his family and any memory he might have had of them. "I suppose so, now that I'm up."

"Well, you see, it's this way. My uncle, you know, the grouchy one with the ranch in Colorado, the relative I was always complaining about? Well, he died about three months ago and he left me his ranch! Can you believe it! Me! And I didn't even like the old geezer. Was that nice of him, or what? Anyway, I called Andrew to tell him about it and he said that you were thinking of taking a vacation. I find that very hard to believe, you were always working when I was there, could barely even find time to have fun. You know how you were, either studying or working, or occasionly going for a jog in the morning. I mean you could be majorly boring."

Darien had tuned most of this out and the constant chatter had almost lulled him back to sleep. Michael's chatter tended to have that effect on people. Michael's next words snapped him back to full wakefulness. "Could you repeat that? I was still half asleep."

"I said, do you want to come to the ranch for your vacation. We got forests, and mountains and horses and cows and even our own ghost." Michael was grinning to himself. It would be good to see Darien again and he knew how much Darien liked, what did he call it, oh yeah, parapsychic phenomenon.

"A ghost, huh? Sounds like fun, but I was planning on starting my vacation tomorrow." Almost before Darien stopped talking, Michael had started again.

"That's no problem. We can handle you tomorrow. Just get you a plane ticket, call me with the time you're gonna get in at the Denver airport, and I'll be waiting for you. There's not much I can do at the ranch at the moment, the segundo handles everything, I just sign the bills. Come on, say you'll come. I promise you'll have a great time. This is a great place to get away from your troubles. Nothing ever happens here."

Darien was thinking about Michaels words. A great place to get away from my troubles? I wonder if it would be a good place to get away from my dreams? "Look," is what he said, "I'll think about it and call you tonight. If I do decide to come, I'll give you my flight information then. Okay?"

"Okay," Michael said. "I really hope you come, it'll be great to see you again. It'll be fun, you'll see. You do know how to ride, don't you? Well, even if you don't, you can learn. You always did pick up things fast. And you've got to see the Anasazi ruins. They're said to be haunted by a guardian spirit..."

"Michael," Darien interupted firmly. "I'll give you my answer tonight. Now I need to get some sleep. I'll talk to you at seven."

"Are you sure that will give you enough time?" Michael asked, faintly worried. He had been sure Darien would come, but he couldn't get everything done that quick. Darien soon put his worries to rest.

"Seven o'clock my time, not yours. I'm not doing anything for the next little while but sleeping. Good-bye."

"Bye. Waaiit a minute! Seven o'clock your time is" Michael finished his sentence into a dial tone, "three o'clock in the morning my time. Uh oh!"

Darien smiled slightly to himself as he settled back down to sleep. That hadn't been a nice thing to do to him, but Darien hadn't been able to resist. He had already decided to go. It would be nice to see Michael again. He always had been fun to be around. Darien decided he would call earlier as a thank you for waking him from the nightmare. Darien slid gently into sleep and right back into his nightmare.

When Darien awoke the next morning, he was grouchy. He usually was these days. Nights interupted constantly by dreams of Serena's death, did not make for a pleasant sleep. Although his vacation didn't officially start until the next day, he never worked on Sundays and so decided to spend the day getting ready for his trip. He went to a travel agents and made reservations to leave in the morning. However, he would not actually get to Denver, until Tuesday morning, Denver time. He stopped by the arcade to ask Andrew to water his plants while he was gone and they talked about the trip. Darien also asked Andrew not to tell Serena, or any of her gang, where he would be. He knew that tomorrow would be the hard part. He would have to tell Serena he was leaving. He worried a little about leaving her and Reenie relatively unprotected, but with the decrease in Negaverse activity, he was sure that the Sailor Scouts could handle anything that came up.

At seven o'clock that night he called Michael. Michael didn't even bother with a greeting. "I'm going to kill you as soon as you get here," he snarled. "At least when I called you, it was an 'accident'!"

Darien laughed out loud. "I'm sorry, I just got the time change mixed up. Do you want the flight information or not?" After giving Michael the information, and making him read it back to make sure he had it right, Darien allowed Michael to go back to sleep while he started to pack.

**The next morning.**

Knowing Serena's habits well, Darien waited at the corner in front of the arcade. After another night of bad dreams, he just wanted to be out of here, but he couldn't leave without saying good-bye. Surely it won't do any harm.

Sure enough, Serena came barreling around the corner less than five minutes after he got there. WHAM! Of course she ran right into him, she always did. Darien took a deep breath, and told her. Her response wasn't as bad as he was expecting, but in some ways it was worse. He was expecting the loud wail that announced to the world that she was hurt, instead he got quiet tears that she was obviously trying to stop. The wail he knew how to deal with, but watching her try to be mature about something that was tearing her apart, was tearing 'him' apart. His heart was very heavy as he walked away and he turned around to watch her run, not seeming to care where she was going. Good-bye Serena. Hopefully, by the time I return, I'll be able to come to a final 

decision. It 'cannot' go on this way. It's hurting us both too much. And Darien walked on to finish getting ready to go.

**Denver International Airport Tuesday morning**

Darien walked off the plane. He looked terrible. He hadn't dared sleep on the plane in case the nightmare came back and he would wake everyone up by shouting in his sleep. Instead he had spent the flight thinking about Serena, worrying about Serena, worrying about Reenie, and reading up on the Anasazi people. Not exactly a comforting flight. He looked around. It wasn't really necessary. It was very hard to miss Michael. He was standing in the lounge, jumping up and down like a kid Reenie's age, instead of a young man of twenty.

"Darien!" he shouted, "Hey Darien, you look awful man, didn't you get any sleep on the plane?" His voice settled down as he got closer. Their hands met in a hearty clasp, then Michael threw his arm around Darien's shoulder to guide him to the baggage claim. Michael was about an inch taller than Darien with blazing red hair, dancing hazel eyes and was very muscular.

Although he said he didn't do much work on the ranch, it obviously wasn't because he didn't have the strength. "I bet you spent the whole trip studying, didn't you? What's this? A book on the Anasazi? I knew it. You couldn't have gotten an adventure book or an intrigue, could you? Noooo, you brought a 'text' book! We have a small cliff village on my property, I'll take you up to see it later this week. I thought we could go skiing for a couple days first. There's a ski lodge only an hour or so from my house that I've heard is really good. I already got us reservations. Don't worry that you don't have the right clothes, you can always rent them. I was going to show you around the ranch today and then we would leave tomorrow for the lodge but you look like you would rather spend the day in a bed, don't worry I have one for you."

"That'll be fine, Michael," Darien smiled tiredly as they waited for his baggage. That's how the week passed, in skiing, reminiscing, laughter and chatter. And no dreams. Darien could hardly believe waking up that morning after the first undisturbed night's sleep he'd had in over a month. On Saturday, Darien and Michael rode up to a canyon on the far end of the ranch. Darien stared in disbelief as he saw the small village built 'inside' of the cliff.

Michael grinned at Darien's expression. He remembered his first reaction to seeing the Anasazi town. Although he had heard of the cliff villages, read about them and even seen pictures of them, 'nothing' compared to seeing one for the first time. For once, he decided to keep quiet and just let Darien look. Not that he could do it for long. "Well, what do you think? Isn't it the most awesome thing you've ever seen? We're going to go up there tomorrow. There's a camp site not far from here where we'll spend the night. Come on, we need to be set up before dark."

Darien tore his eyes off of the impressive sight before him. He should have known that Michael wouldn't be able to keep silent for long. Darien had wished to get to a place without the dreams so he could think undisturbed. He'd managed to get away from the dreams, but finding 

undisturbed time to think was proving to be almost impossible. Michael was always there and 'always' talking.

The next morning they climbed a very steep trail up to the village. Michael couldn't stop playing tour guide. "The Anasazi started building these cliff villages about fourteen hundred years ago and stopped about nine hundred years ago. They left soon after and no one knows why. You've got to be careful up there. They built underground rooms called kivas. You need to stay on the path, it's known to be safe. Inside the rooms is fine too, but don't go wandering around outside, okay? We don't want you falling into a kiva, they're very deep and you could get hurt."

Darien wasn't paying attention. His eyes were eagerly roving over the view before him. He walked carefully into the first house they came to. Although there was very little left in the room except for dust, his mind filled it with people and things. He climbed the new ladder up to the second story, trying to imagine what life had been like for these intriguing people. When Michael realized Darien was caught up in his own little world, he started exploring himself. Even though he had been here before, every time he came it was like the first time.

After several hours, Darien finally called out to Michael, "What about this ghost you were telling me about? Didn't you tell me he haunted this mesa?"

"Yeah, he's been seen in that house over there." Michael pointed to a house, set apart from the others. Although the other houses shared walls with each other, this one stood alone. Darien started walking towards the house.

Michael looked up, suddenly. "DARIEN! NO! DON'T WALK THAT WAY!"

Darien turned to look at Michael in surprise. It was the worst thing he could have done. As Michael looked on fearfully, the ground collapsed beneath Darien and he disappeared with a yell. "DARIEN!!"

Michael ran to where Darien had fallen, sure that Darien had at least broken a leg, he 'knew' how deep those kivas were. He called out as he got to the edge and got the surprise of his life. "Darien?"

"Yeah?" Darien called out from the underground room. "This is interesting. Could you send down one of the lanterns? I'd like to take a closer look at this place."

Michael just stood there for a few minutes in utter stupification. "Don't scare me like that! I'll go get a rope to get you out of there. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Can you get me a lantern, too? I really want a better look around here and the light from the hole in the roof isn't worth much. And I'm fine." It's times like these, that I'm glad some of my abilities as Tuxedo Mask can be used in this form, otherwise I 'would' have gotten hurt. Michael passed down a lantern, as he tried to get into a position to pull his friend up. Darien lit the lantern 

and looked around. He called up to Michael, "Are you sure this is a kiva? It looks like there's a tunnel leading out of here." As he looked up to where Michael was standing he noticed dust and small rocks falling down from the ceiling. "Michael! Move back! More of it's going to collapse!" Michael stepped back and watched in horror as the rest of the kiva's ceiling fell down into the hole, totally filling it.

"DDAAARRRRIIIEEENNNNNNN!!"

Darien stood in the tunnel entrance staring out at the dark. His hand was covering his mouth as he tried to breathe through the choking dust. He had lost the lantern as he ran from the room. He only hoped that Michael had been able to move in time. Even the small amount of sunlight that had come through the hole in the ceiling was gone.

Darien pulled up his shirt collar, to try to block the dust. A cape would work much better. he thought as he pulled out a rose and changed into Tuxedo Mask. He pulled the cape across his nose and mouth and it did allow him to breathe.

I was kind of hoping I'd be able to see in the dark in this form. I guess not. I really need some form of light though. Even as he thought it, the rose in his hand started to glow. Tuxedo Mask stared as it brightened enough to let him see his surroundings.

He was standing in a crevice in the rock. Although it looked as if it had been worked upon, it had obviously started out as a natural tunnel. In front of him was completely covered by fallen rock. Not even his roses would be able to get him out that way. He turned around to look at the tunnel he was standing in. Up ahead it opened up into a larger cave. He started walking that way. Just before he was about to step inside, his eye was caught by carving in the tunnel wall.

He looked closer. Although he would have sworn the runes were a language he had never seen before, he understood what they said.

_Your Quest begins here  
This is your last chance to retreat.  
Only those who conquer fear  
Will not meet with defeat.  
Four tests you have to conquer,  
Earth, Air, Water and Fire,  
Yourself, you have to master,  
If to the prize you do aspire._

"Geesh, that's bad poetry. Well, I can't turn back, so I guess I'll have to go on this 'quest'. It can't be any worse than getting caught in a cave in, I guess." Tuxedo Mask was speaking to himself even as he started into the cave. The cave was fairly pretty, filled with stalactites and stalagmites sticking out of the ceiling and floor. They contained some mineral that made them sparkle in the 

light of the rose. The cave was also very large, the far wall barely in sight and the tunnel entrance in that side just a darker blot.

As Tuxedo Mask walked farther into the room, the walls began to shake. As he looked up in disbelief, dust started drifting into the room and small stones started dropping from the ceiling. "Not again!" he groaned as he started running towards the other side of the chamber. A little before the middle of the chamber, some instinct made him look up. He gasped in disbelief as he threw himself out of the way of the plummeting stalactite. He was barely in time, the rock catching on his cape as he passed. Instantly, he was on his feet again, this time his eyes on the ceiling instead of the tunnel entrance. Once again, instinct saved him as he jumped over a chasm that had suddenly appeared ahead of him. However his foot landed on a broken piece of rock, dropping him to the ground. The tremors grew worse. Stalactites were falling all across the cavern. Stalagmites were broken off and rolling back and forth, chasms were opening and slamming closed. Only instinct had saved Tuxedo Mask so far, but as he lay winded where he had fallen, he started to feel the way the rock was moving. He jumped to his feet and moved two steps to the left, just voiding getting impaled by a lance of solid rock. Well, so far my instincts been the only thing saving me, so let's see if it will work if I let them guide me. He set his body on automatic, trying not to pay attention to what was going on about him. It was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He wanted to flinch from every crash and jump every time a chasm slammed shut. Somehow, he managed not to. He started running once more. This time chasms he 'knew' were there, were jumped without stopping.

Roses imploded stalactites just before they fell. Other roses were thrown forward to destroy rolling rocks and other impediments. Suddenly, he was there. He ran through the exit, and stood there panting as the cavern collapsed behind him. "Well, I obviously can't get through that way." He turned to look at the tunnel he was in. It wasn't a tunnel! He was in another cave. This one was slightly smaller than the previous one and he looked around it with wary eyes. However, he soon saw that there were no stalactites or stalagmites in this one. There was also no door! He searched for minutes, looking for a crack in the walls that would show a way out. He couldn't find one. He noticed that he was having a hard time breathing. His search became frantic as he searched for a way out, any way out.

"Think, Darien, think" he thought out loud. He knew he couldn't afford the air, but needed to hear his own words. "That last cavern must have been the challenge of earth that the poem spoke of. So this is the challenge of air. That means there 'has' to be a way out. You can't make a challenge that can't be solved. Now think." He was silent for several minutes while still prowling the chamber. He stopped and stared at the rose in his hand. The petals were moving! The air is moving 'out'. He thought, this time silently. There's got to be a way for the air to be moving through the wall. He stared at his rose, but the air current was not strong enough to show a direction. He pulled more roses out of thin air and stripped their petals off. He then threw the petals in the air. They all moved slightly towards the left wall. He followed the petals, throwing more into the air as necessary, until he had reached the edge of the cave. He dropped to his knees 

and pressed his hands against the wall. He was gasping, and felt more and more as if he was going to pass out. Then he felt it. A protuberance in the wall moved as he felt over it. With almost the last of his strength he pushed it. Air roared back into the room as a small passageway opened.

Tuxedo Mask just sat there for long minutes, breathing. He knew there were still two more 'tests' in front of him. He also now knew the tests could be lethal. He planned to get as much of his strength back as possible before he went into the next test. Finally, he crawled through the small passageway. It was so small that he had to crawl on his hands and knees. At first he kept his rose light in his hands but soon moved it to his teeth. After almost ten minutes of crawling on his hands and knees, the passageway ended. Suddenly. Tuxedo Mask yelled as he once again felt himself falling.

SPLASH!!

Once again, Tuxedo Mask lost his breath as he hit the ice cold water of the underground river. He desperately swam for the surface and got his head up just in time to see the tunnel ceiling drop even to the water. He grabbed a quick breath and dove. His head just barely dropped below the water level in time and he could feel the roof brush against his hair. He swam as fast as he could in that position, hoping, praying that the tunnel would rise before he ran out of air. The ice water was also getting to him, but he was not quite as troubled by the cold as most people would be. His cape was dragging, slowing him down, so he unhooked it and let it drop behind. He kept swimming, the exertion helping to keep him warm, although it was also costing him precious air. Just as he was convinced he would have to stop, he felt open air above him. He popped his head up and gulped the air that had gathered there. It was a very small indention, but he was able to take several breaths before he used up all the oxygen and had to start swimming again.

The third of these air pockets was big enough that he could stay there comfortably for a short while, as long as the current didn't grab him too hard. It gave him time to think. Maybe I'm not doing this right. All I've been doing is going with the flow, there's got to be more to the challenge than that. Maybe if I let my instincts take over again? He closed his eyes and tried to feel around him, the way he had 'felt' the earth moving. After several seconds, he opened his eyes again, Well that didn't work.

Hey, what's that?! Warmer water? Where's it coming from? Again he felt the touch of a warmer current. He decided to follow it. He didn't have any better ideas. He set off swimming back in the direction he came from. The warm current was very small, but Tuxedo Mask managed to keep one of his hands inside it. Of course, one warm hand made the rest of his body even colder, but he withstood it stoicly. More and more of the water was warming up, then suddenly, it was gone!

Tuxedo Mask put one hand on the ceiling to hold himself in place. With his other hand he pulled out another rose and started it glowing. With it clenched in his teeth, he turned around and started swimming with the current once more.

There it was! A small side tunnel. He swam into it, hoping he had chosen the right course. Long before his air started running out again, the tunnel opened up. Tuxedo Mask raised his head. The rose in his teeth lit up another large cavern and a ledge that ran around the edge, only two feet above the water. Tuxedo Mask pulled himself up on the ledge and lay there for long moments, just gasping and trying to get his strength back.

Finally, he stood up. There in front of him was another cave entrance. He sighed as he tried to get ready for the next, and hopefully last, challenge. He straightened his tuxedo, and tried to straighten his hat, before he realized he had lost it several caves ago. He sighed again, resigned, and walked into the next cavern.

He knew what the next challenge was even before he saw the red flickering on the walls and the felt the heat pulsing through the opening. Fire. The fourth and last challenge. He walked inside, half expecting the door to slam shut behind him and was slightly surprised when it didn't. Inside, was a wall of fire. It seemed to be burning rock. There was nothing else there for it 'to' burn. Tuxedo Mask thought for a moment and then detransformed into Darien. He immediately retransformed, not only because it was what he had planned to do, but also because it was much hotter to his regular form than to his Tuxedo Mask form. When he transformed back, he was dry once more and wearing a top hat and cape. He went to the river and filled his cape with water. Walking back into the fire room, he threw the water on the fire. The fire went out, but before he could even congratulate himself on finding such an easy way through, it flared up again. He tried several times, on several different parts of the fire with the same results. The only things he was able to figure from this was that the fire was not feeding on anything and was indeed a wall about two feet wide.

Maybe if the fire doesn't feed on anything, it won't really burn anything either. One rose thrown into the fire, turned that theory into ashes. The rose too. After almost fifteen minutes of trying to put out the fire, he came to a single conclusion. I'm going to have to go through it. Nothing else works. Tuxedo Mask went back to the river and jumped in. Then he filled his cape with water. With one motion he threw the water onto the fire and twirled the cape around to cover his face and hands as he ran through the open space in the fire. The fire sprang back up as he was halfway through, but the water on his clothes kept them from burning until he stood on bare ground on the other side of the fire.

Before him was an archway. This was no tunnel entrance or natural crevice. This was an 'archway'. It was covered in carvings and inlaid with gold and precious stones. Tuxedo Mask just stared for a long moment, then detransformed, and retransformed. He had the feeling he needed to look his best before stepping into the next room. He stepped into the archway.

"Who dares to enter here?" A voice spoke from out of nowhere.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Tuxedo Mask answered confidently as he started to walk in, only to be repulsed.

"Who dares to enter here?" the voice came again.

Tuxedo Mask detransformed. "Darien Chiba." Darien almost asked and tried walking forward once more. Once more he was repulsed.

"Who dares to enter here?" the voice sounded as impatient as such a voice could.

Darien thought about it for a long moment, staring at the carvings on the gate. He transformed to Tuxedo Mask and continued on until Prince Endymion, in his black armor stood there. "I am Prince Endymion of the kingdom of Earth, and I dare to enter here." he said stepping forward. This time he was allowed through but could only take three steps before being stopped.

He tried to go on, but found he couldn't move.

"Which are you, you must choose." the voice said almost sympathetically.

"Who do you wish to be?"

Endymion thought about it for a very long moment. Darien Chiba was the one who belonged in this time, but Tuxedo Mask was the one who fought. And as for Prince Endymion, he was a person of the past who had little in common with the present, except the Princess that he loved. He thought and thought and found only one answer that seemed to fit the choice.

"I wish to be myself." He was not sure the voice would accept that answer, but it was the only one he could make. It simply was not a choice he could make, for all of his selves had their place and he could 'not' choose one above the other.

The voice, however, seemed delighted with the answer as it announced, "You may pass."

Prince Endymion stepped forward into the room that was obviously the object of his quest. The room was even more ornamented than the archway was. Light flickered from some unknown source, flickering over the pictures of the walls. Carvings of people, places and things covered the walls. On one wall was an accurate picture of the Silver Palace of the Moon, complete with Queen Serenity and her daughter standing on a balcony. Endymion stared for a long time at this accurate representation of the woman he had loved for over a thousand years. His mind went back to the last fight for the Moon Kingdom, when she had jumped into the beam that killed him, because she refused to leave him.

Other pictures showed various kingdoms, all nine planets, with their royal families and Scouts. Nine Scouts? Does that mean there are four we haven't found or did they not get sent into the future? Then he found what was obviously a picture of the Kingdom of Earth. There were three figures represented there. A king, a queen, and a male scout?! That's...that's me!! Me, a Scout! No, I would have known, there aren't any male scouts, are there? he babbled to himself.

A voice answered his innermost thoughts. "Yes, Prince Endymion, you were Sailor Earth. Tuxedo Mask is not your form as the Guardian of Earth, it is your form as the Guardian of the Princess. It is stronger than your Scout form, but do not forget you have the power to transform to Sailor Earth. Being Sailor Earth allows you to meld your powers with the other scouts to intensify a Sailor Planet attack or to feed the Moon Crystal. You can not do that as Tuxedo Mask."

"You mean in that battle with Metallia, I could have added my powers to theirs if I had been able to transform into Sailor Earth?" Endymion was still shocked at this revelation, but was already starting to think of the implications. It was true, he could not help on group efforts because his power was too different from the Scouts. "What do I need to do to transform?" he asked, positive it was the right thing to do.

"Look in the center of the room." Endymion moved towards the pedastal in the middle of the cavern. Sitting there was a jewel, an opal, a very large opal, being around the size of Serena's crystal and whose colors shifted in the flickering light. "Each of the three great kingdoms had a jewel that held a great deal of their power. This is Earth's. Although people tended to give them distinguished names, such as the Silver Imperium Crystal, in the beginning it was just the Moon Crystal, as this was the Earth Gem. As Princess Serenity uses her Moon Crystal to transform into Sailor Moon, so can you use the Earth Gem to transform into Sailor Earth. Try it. You know what to do."

Endymion transformed down into Darian. He took hold of the opal and raised it into the air. "EARTH GEM POWER!" As he spoke the words the transformation began. Beams of light, green, white, blue, and red came from the opal and swirled around him. When the lights faded Sailor Earth stood there. He wore a one piece pants suit like male gymnasts wear. His shirt was white with black sleeves and his pants were a dark green, his shoes looked almost like sneakers and were black, as was his belt. Instead of a tiara, he wore a headband, dark green with the sign of Earth on it.

Sailor Earth looked down at himself, before speaking to the voice, "Not bad. What were the colors that came from the opal?"

"They are the colors of the elements, green for earth, white for air, blue for water and red for fire." the voice now seemed amused. "Now, look at the base of the pedastal."

Sailor Earth decided he had better do as the voice said. At least the costume didn't have bows. That would have been too much. At the bottom of the pedastal was a ring. It was made of gold, carved with the signs of the four elements and with an empty setting in the middle.

"Place the opal in the setting." the voice said, once again unemotional.

"It won't...Never mind." Sailor Earth said. So far the voice seemed to know what it was talking about, it probably knew this time too. As he placed the opal in the setting of the ring he was surprised as it seemed to shrink to fit. He shrugged and put it on, after detransforming back into Darien.

He looked at the pedastal one more time, and saw words carved where the opal had stood. "What are these?" he asked the voice that seemed to know everything.

"They are the words to a prophecy, read them and remember, they are very important to the future of this world, this universe, but they are only the first part of the prophecy; others hold the other parts. Read and remember."

The voice sounded sad, and Darien had the idea he would have to leave after he read the words.

"Who are you? Are you the ghost on the mesa?" Darien was still curious about that.

"I am the guardian of this place. The opal was placed here a thousand years ago, to keep it out of Queen Beryl's hands. I volunteered to stay and set up the challenges. We hoped that you would come for it, but had no idea how long it would take. I was to stay here until you did, then I would be free to leave. After I felt your rebirth, I traveled often to watch you grow, I saw you join the Sailor Scouts. I did however, often wonder why you didn't seem to know each other, and why you didn't come for the Gem."

"We have very few memories of our last life. They were wiped when we were reborn. I didn't know to come here. I have no memories of my parents or my life here on Earth before the battle."

"Those I can give you." The voice was excited, "I cannot give you any memories of your time on the Moon, but your life here on Earth I know well. Do you wish them?"

"Yes! I would love to remember my parents." Even as Darien was speaking, memories started pouring into him. Life with his parents as the Prince of Earth. Formal gatherings and informal ones, riding his horse through the hills, racing his best friends, learning sword play and diplomacy, playing tricks on his tutors and punishments he usually snuck out of, quiet times with his parents when they weren't busy with other things. A fairly normal childhood except for the things he had to learn as prince. How to sit through extremely boring audiences without yawning, knowing when a problem requires a royal answer or only needs time, making just judgements and even occasionaly sentances. Darien remembered the first time he had to order someone's death for treason and his first battle. Still, all in all it was a good childhood and Endymion had enjoyed it immensely, as did Darien when reliving it.

Now the voice sounded very tired. "It is all I can do. Read the prophecy and remember the words."

Darien moved to the pedestal. The words were in the same runes as the ones at the beginning, this time he knew how he understood, remembering his lessons.

_Three bloodlines and four crowns  
For Universal Power  
Nine Scouts of five planets  
To stand upon the hour_

As Darien stared at the runes, the room dissolved from around him and he was in a cave entrance on the edge of the mesa. From where he stood, he could see the cliff village. Michael must be worried sick, he thought as he walked towards the village. He was surprised when he got there. Michael wasn't there, and the kiva had been almost completely dug out. That couldn't have happened in the short time I was gone, could it?

Darien walked down to their campsite. The fire pit looked like it hadn't had a fire in it for days. He shrugged and started walking back to the ranch. After several hours, he heard a shout. He looked up to see one of the cowboys he had met coming toward him. "What are you doing on this la... Mr. Chiba?"

"What's the matter? You look like you just saw a ghost." Darien was very surprised at the reaction he got. The cowboy had turned white when he first got a good look at Darien and was slowly backing his horse away.

"Are you sure you're not?" the cowboy asked nervously.

"Not what? A ghost? Of course not. What's going on? I thought Michael would still be at the mesa, it's only been about half a day since I fell into the kiva." Then he looked at the cowboys face and finished slowly

"Hasn't it?"

"No, sir. You've been missing for more than a week. They tried digging out the kiva, but it just kept collapsing on them. They finally decided you couldn't have lived through that and declared you officially dead. The boss already called and told all your friends about it. They were planning on having a memorial service next week, when your friends could get here."

Darien's face looked sick. They told Serena I was dead! She must be going crazy!

"How far back to the ranch house? I need to call home and tell them I'm okay." Darien was almost frantic.

"Well, if you're sure you're not a ghost, I'll take you. We should be back in a couple of hours." Darien thankfully climbed up on the back of the horse and they headed back to the ranch.

Michael stared at the approaching riders in disbelief. He ran outside as Darien dismounted and thanked the cowboy and he moved off. Then Michael ran down the stairs and threw his arms around his best friend. He was so moved that he couldn't even speak. He had spent days searching the village.

He had heard Darien talking about the tunnel, and thought he might have gotten in there and saved himself, but after days of futile searching had had to give up. Then came the hardest part of all. He called Andrew to tell him what had happened, because Andrew was the only one of Darien's friends that he knew. He knew that Andrew had the really hard part, telling everybody else.

Darien held Michael, sensing how he felt. Then he pulled away. Although he knew how disturbed Michael was, his thoughts were on Serena. For Serena to have heard of his death like that was awful. Although the time had not been as long for him as it obviously had been for the others, he had had enough time on the walk back to finally do some thinking about Serena. He had finally decided. There was nothing in this world that could beat the two of them together, especially now he had the Earth Gem. He was not going to let anything separate them again, not even himself. He couldn't wait to tell her and planned to change his reservations to this week.

"I need to talk to the people at home, Michael. Can I use your phone?"

Michael still didn't speak as he led Darien inside. He thought about how his friends would feel if they were suddenly told he was dead and couldn't blame Darien for wanting to set everybody straight.

Darien checked the time. It was five in the afternoon, which would make it nine the next morning in Tokyo. He turned to Michael, "What day is it?" he asked, not quite sure he wanted to know the answer.

Michael looked at him a little strangely, and answered. "It's Monday. You disappeared last Sunday, and I called Andrew to tell him about it on Wednesday."

So it's Tuesday morning. Serena will be in school, so I guess I'd better call Andrew. He dialed.

"Hello. Crown Arcade." Andrews voice came over the line. "Andrew, this is Darien. Don't panic. I'm not dead. I just got lost in some caves for the last week."

"This is a joke, right?" Andrew sounded mad.

"It's not a joke, Andrew. Michael did tell you that I fell into a kiva, right? Well, when the ceiling collapsed I was able to get into a tunnel and spent the last little while wandering around in there. I just found my way out a couple of hours ago." He stopped to give Andrew time to get used to the idea, before asking the important question. "Did you tell Serena I was dead?"

"It's really you, Darien?" Now Andrew's voice was a mixture of joy, relief and disbelief. "Yes, I told Serena, I told everyone. She sure seemed to take it bad. She collapsed crying and Travis had to practically carry her home. Since then she hasn't talked about it, but she's not all that sad. Of course, she's usually with Travis so maybe he's the reason."

"Who's Travis?" Darien's voice sounded normal, which surprised him. He felt like he was dying inside.

"Oh, yeah, you never met him. Well Travis moved here from Virginia about two weeks ago. He and Serena became good friends very fast. She keeps saying he's not her boyfriend, but nobody believes her. I mean they're together 'all the time'. Especially now that..."

Darien interrupted him. He couldn't hear anymore. "Look, will you tell everyone that I'm fine, and I'll be back in about a week?"

"You're going to finish your vacation there?" Andrew said, sort of surprised, he would've thought that Darien would wish to come home to 'show' everyone that he was alright.

"Yeah, I still have some thinking to do. I'll see you in a week." Darien slowly hung up the phone and dropped his head into his hands. I guess I went too far, taking this vacation. Serena's got a new boyfriend and didn't even seem to care that I was dead! Serena's got a new...I knew I had left it too late. Why couldn't I have decided sooner? While there was still a chance? Oh, Serena, I love you so much, now I've lost you and it's...all... my...fault!

_To be continued..._

Well, what did you think? Now that you've read this, you might have some idea of what is going to happen in Sailor Moon Universal, Chapter Five. It's called The Twins. Tell me what you think.


	5. The Twins

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Five:** The Twins

"What, Luna? You mean you don't remember him?"

"Remember him?" Luna asked, totally confused. "Should I remember him? Was he from the Moon Kingdom?"

"You could say that. He's my twin brother, Prince Tranquillity!"

--

"WWHHHAAAATTTTTT?" Luna screeched.

Travis turned to Serena, "She can howl louder than you on occasion, can't she?"

Serena laughed even as she hit him. "I take it you don't remember him?" she asked Luna.

"No, I don't remember him! If this is some joke..." Luna didn't know what to think. For once Serena was taking news calmly while 'she' was wailing her head off. Luna tried to get herself under control.

"I'm not really surprised you don't remember me," Travis put in soothingly,

"I wasn't around much."

"I know." Serena pouted, "and I hated it."

"Here, let's sit down, and I'll tell you what I remember, Serena can then tell what she remembers and we'll see if anything sparks your memory, okay?"

Travis led them over to the couch and the three sat down with Luna on Serena's lap. Travis began.

"Our parent's marriage was not a love match. It was simply a political marriage for both of them."

Serena interrupted, "That's one reason Mother was so determined that I would marry for love."

"Serena, do you want to tell this?" Travis asked sternly.

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, our parent's marriage was a political one. It was made solely to ally the Kingdom of the Moon and the Kingdom of the Sun. In case you haven't figured it out yet, our father was the King of the Sun. Part of the alliance concerned the children, the first born daughter would become the heir to the Moon and the first born son would be heir to the Sun."

Serena interrupted again. "Luna, could Mother have planned it so she would have twins? I mean, could she have used the Crystal to make sure of it?"

"I think it's possible, Serena," Luna said impatiently, "but would you please be quiet. I think I'm remembering some of this and I would like to hear the rest."

Travis waited until all talking had ceased before he continued. "It was thought best that we stay with Mother the first few years. I hear that we were inseparable during those years. Then we turned five." Travis grew silent and after waiting a few seconds Serena continued.

"When we turned five, it was decided that we were old enough to start learning about our kingdoms. Tranq had to go to the Sun. We only got to see each other about twice a year. When we did get to see each other, we spent all our time together." Serena grew silent as well, trying to remember times that were still misty.

"I remember," Luna said quietly. Her mind, too, was caught in the past. "I remember when you were born. The entire kingdom rejoiced. When you were shown to the people for the first time, everyone thought the Queen had been blessed with a pair of angels, you were so good. They didn't know you very well."

"Hey!" Serena cried out, surprised from her thoughts by what Luna had just said. "What do you mean by that? For that you can sit on the floor." And Serena unceremoniously dumped Luna from her lap. Travis laughed as Luna managed to twist herself to land on her feet. Then he calmed down. "What 'did' you mean by that, Luna? Maybe it came out wrong?"

Luna washed herself for a few minutes before she decided to start talking again. "You two were total terrors." Luna said suddenly. "Especially that first night."

"What did we do?" Serena asked, interested.

"You cried." Luna said bluntly. "We tried feeding you, you cried. We tried rocking you and walking you, you cried. We tried changing you, you cried. We brought in a doctor because you cried so much. Normally, a newborn baby only cries when hungry, wet, or wanting attention. You two just cried. We decided to leave you alone, you cried. Nothing we could do would make you stop crying. We were going out of our minds, sure that something was wrong with you."

"So what happened?" Serena and Travis asked breathlessly when Luna stopped.

"The noise just stopped suddenly. We all rushed in to see what had happened.

The nurse had been rocking one of you, I think it was you, Tranquillity, and accidently put you down in the wrong cradle. Your crying had made us all so crazy that it's not surprising she didn't even notice the cradle was already occupied. When we got in there she was just looking down into a cradle that had two sleeping babies in it. We thought you two had finally gotten tired of crying and went to sleep. So your mother picked up Tranquillity to put him back in his cradle. You both woke up and started crying, even though you'd definately been asleep the moment before. She put him back down, you were both asleep, lift him up and you were awake and crying. That's the first time we got a hint of it."

"A hint of what?" Serena and Travis asked simultaneously.

"You two would 'not' be separated. You would be the sweetest children in the world while together, but try to separate you and you almost went berserk." Luna looked disgusted.

Travis didn't look too happy either. "I cried! I can't believe I couldn't find another way to make my displeasure known."

"Oh, you did! After you were two or so, 'you' started the silent treatment. You would just sit there, not say anything, and do absolutely nothing. It was so frustrating!" Luna sounded like she was still frustrated about it 1000 years later.

"How could you separate us, then?" Serena asked softly, holding on to Travis's arm as if someone was trying to separate them now.

"We didn't have a choice." Luna said just as softly. "It could have provoked an interstellar incident if we didn't. Tranquillity wasn't even supposed to stay until he was five. The alliance between the two kingdoms had been a necessity, there was bad blood between the Moon and the Sun.

Your birth had stopped some of that, but when Tranquillity didn't come to the Sun, rumors started going around that Queen Serenity was holding him hostage, to ensure good behavior. He had to go. Though come to think of it, a war would probably been a lot more fun than those next two months."

Travis decided to break up the solemn atmosphere. "What I would like to know, is who got the bright idea to name twins Serenity and Tranquillity? Do you have any idea how often I got teased about that stupid name? I would love to be alone with that person for just five minutes."

Luna looked away guiltily, blushing slightly. Travis had turned to share a laugh with Serena so he didn't notice. Unfortunately for Luna, for once Serena was sensitive enough to notice and looking the right way. "Luna! You didn't!" Serena said, shocked.

Travis turned to glare at Luna. "It was 'your' idea?" he asked in disbelief.

"I didn't mean it seriously," she exclaimed, backing away. "Serenity's name had already been decided, all queens of the moon were named Serenity, but there wasn't an inherited name for the sun and no one could decide what to call you. Then you were born and we had to come up with a name quickly. I was just joking with the queen, trying to keep her spirits up and I said that it would be cute if you were named Tranquillity, it went so well with Serenity and it was the name of a sea on the moon. How was I to know she would take me seriously and really name you that?" Luna was backing away even as she babbled. Travis was coming after her and he looked very annoyed. It looked as though fifteen years of being teased over his name had finally come to the forefront as he went after the cause of his misfortune.

"Besides," Luna said, "Apollo agreed to it and he had the last say since he was your father's representative at the court and was to be your guardian."

Luna's voice slowed down as she listened to what she had just said. "Apollo?" Travis and Serena said in stereo. Serena still looked a little bemused, but Travis looked like he had gotten a revelation. He ran outside with Serena on his heels.

"You don't honestly think its him, do you?" Serena gasped as she followed after him.

"What are the chances that my guardian would have a golden falcon named Apollo, who 'didn't' have anything to do with me?" Travis said as he hit the steps, his eyes scanning the skies. He turned around at the "oof".

Serena was sitting on the steps and rubbing her buttocks as she slowly got up. "Are you alright?" Travis asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, just another klutz attack. But didn't Apollo have the symbol of the Sun on his forehead, like Luna has the crescent Moon? And I don't remember seeing one on 'this' Apollo."

Travis and Luna both looked at Serena in surprise. They had both expected her signature wail at the fall, not a calm continuation of the conversation. When she didn't get an answer to her question, Serena looked up to catch the two of them staring at her. "What?" she snapped. She got even more annoyed when they looked at each other, shrugged and said "Nothing" in exactly the same tone of voice.

"Maybe he was reborn like us, instead of being put in a stasis capsule like the cats. We'll never know until we ask. Come on." Travis started out into the yard.

He whistled, loud and long, and waited. The falcon flew straight out of the rising sun. Travis punched his fist up into the air. When Uncle Darien first showed me Apollo, I did this, and Apollo was going to land, but Uncle Darien said that it was the wrong way to do it. He was right. If this isn't 'my' Apollo, this is going to hurt. But the falcon landed gently on the upraised fist, mantled his wings, and stayed in place as Travis lowered his arm to look him in the eye.

Luna was back in Serena's arms and looking nervously at the large predator in front of her. "Serena was right, he doesn't have the sun symbol, I don't think it's him." Serena and Luna 

looked at Travis to gauge his reaction to that statement. They were very surprised at the reaction they got.

"You always were quick to jump to conclusions, Luna." Everyone's head whipped up as they looked at each other in shock. The voice had 'not' come from one of them.

They turned to look at Apollo. He looked back at them with his beak slightly open, in the closest thing to a grin any of them could imagine on a falcon's face.

"It is you!" Travis said happily.

"It's nice to see you again, too, Travis." The falcon said in a slightly grating voice. "At least you know me this time. And as for why I don't have the sun symbol on my forehead? I just learned to hide it." As Apollo said this his forehead started to glow and the symbol of the sun was suddenly glowing there. Serena looked at Travis and stared. The sun symbol was shining on his forehead as well!

Serena was about to remark on this when she suddenly glanced at the real sun.

"Travis? What time is it?"

Travis looked at his watch. "It's seven forty-five. We're going to be late!" The two of them tore back inside, leaving Luna and Apollo staring after them. They looked at each other for a long moment, then in complete agreement said one word. "Teenagers!"

Miss Haruna had only one word for them when they came in ten minutes late to class. "Detention."

**That afternoon at detention**

"You know," Serena said, "I'm not sure if even finding out about you makes this day worthwhile."

"I know what you mean." Travis agreed, "Late for school, didn't eat breakfast, didn't bring lunch, have detention."

"And no one seems to be talking to me." Serena finished for him. "Amy and Lita were acting like I was carrying the plague or something. I didn't even get a chance to tell them about us."

"Probably because you were trying to eat their lunch." Travis said, laughing. "Well if we're stuck here, we might as well get some work done."

They pulled out their school books and started working on their homework. Miss Haruna looked in on them a couple of times, only to see them working diligently. She shook her head as she walked away. When Serena had come in late this morning, she was sure that everything was back to normal. It seemed this was not so.

When Travis finished his homework, he looked over at Serena. She had a look of extreme concentration on her face as she worked a problem. He took her math homework and started looking it over. When Serena finally finished he pointed out a couple of mistakes she had made and she fixed them.

"Serena," Travis asked, "when is your birthday?"

"Nineteen days from today," Serena answered without even stopping to think.

She had been keeping track. "Why, you going to get me a present?"

"In other words, two weeks from Saturday, right?" Serena nodded. "The same day as mine."

"Is that so surprising?" Serena asked, puzzled, "We are twins after all."

"We 'were' twins, Serena. The question is, are we still twins." Serena now looked extremely puzzled, he didn't even wait for her to ask. "We are the same age, have the same birthday and are both adopted. Do you think we were born as twins in this reincarnation, as well?"

"No." Serena said immediately.

Travis waited. "No? That's all you've got to say? Why not?"

"Because I know my parents, they would not have adopted me without adopting you too." Serena had 'no' doubts about it.

"What if I got adopted first? 'My' parents wouldn't have any qualms about splitting us up." Travis watched Serena as she thought that through.

"Why don't we find out then? I know where my adoption papers are. Do you know where yours are?" Serena asked logically.

Travis just stared at her. Even with the increase in the amount of homework and studying she did, logical thinking was 'not' something he ever expected out of Serena. Actually, Serenity did think logically every once in a while. Bringing back our memories of each other, probably brought Serenity more into the forefront of her mind. He realized Serena was waiting for an answer. "I can find them, I think." He waited to see what else she would come up with in this weird mood. He wasn't disappointed.

"Then I'll go home and get mine while you try to find yours. I'll meet you at your house as soon as I can. We'll compare the papers and see if we have the same parents." Serena started getting her books together.

"Sounds like a plan," Travis agreed as he got up. "I'm proud of you."

Serena looked after him for a moment as she thought about what he said and how she had been acting. Then she laughed to herself. Two plans in a little more than a week, I'm doing good.

**At the Tsukino house**

It's a good thing Mom is out grocery shopping, I really don't want to tell her about this until I'm sure. I do feel a little bad about looking in her stuff like this, though.

"Whatcha doin?" A voice came from behind her.

Serena jumped. She turned around, standing in the doorway was Reenie.

Serena smiled at the little girl. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course. I'm not some little kid." Reenie said, annoyed.

"So can I" Serena laughed as she went back to looking through the papers.

Here it is.

"I'm gonna tell on you. You're not supposed to go through your parents stuff." Reenie was apalled that Serena would do such a thing.

Serena noticed. She knelt down in front of the child. "Reenie trust me. I know what I'm doing. What I just got is information about me, there's something I have to find out the truth about. As soon as I do, I'll tell my parents, okay?"

Reenie nodded slowly. She wasn't completely convinced, but decided to trust Serena for a little bit longer.

Serena stood up. "If you promise not to tell 'anybody' about what you're going to see and hear until I tell you you can, then you can come with me. Agreed?"

Reenie thought for a long moment. "I promise." Reenie said. Serena looked down at her for another minute, before taking her hand and leading her out of the house. Reenie soon figured out where they were going. She stopped.

"Serena?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Serena answered, distracted by what she hoped they were going to find out soon.

"'Is' Travis your new boyfriend? I mean, I guess I can understand, with Darien gone and all, but..." Reenie trailed off.

"No, Reenie, he isn't. I still love Darien, I always will. In fact, I'm hoping we'll soon find out it isn't possible for Travis to be my boyfriend."

Reenie looked confused. "Huh?" she asked, but Serena refused to say another word and they continued on to Travis's house.

Serena looked down at Reenie as she thought of a way to get her mind off of what they had been talking about. "Race you to his house," Serena yelled as she started running.

"Hey, no fair!" Reenie started running after Serena, but her legs weren't as long and she hadn't had as much practice as Serena. "Luna Ball, slow her down." she cried. Luna Ball flew towards the unsuspecting girl and between her legs, causing her to fall down. Reenie ran past, laughing. "That's what you get for trying to cheat."

"I'm gonna get you for that one, Reenie," Serena yelled as she got up and started running again. By the time they got to Travis's house, they were even, and Serena took the lead going up the steps. She burst through the door, turned her head to laugh at Reenie, and ran straight into a large body. The papers in her hand went flying. She looked up. Standing there was a man, he was tall, at least six feet, with very short brown hair and green eyes. He was holding Travis's shoulder with one hand and staring at the girl who just ran into him. That's one weird hairdo was his first thought as he bent down to pick up the papers she had caused 'him' to drop. He looked at the little girl standing in the doorway, staring at him. Maybe it's a new fashion.

Looking at the man standing in front of her, Serena got to her feet, bowed, and started talking. "Excuse me sir, I didn't see you there, I was just racing my cousin, I didn't mean to run into you, I'm really, really, sorry. I should have watched where I was going," she babbled. "Who are you anyway and what are you doing in Travis's house?"

"I could ask you the same question, young lady. I own this house. My name is Darien Jacobson. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Darien Jacobson waited to hear her answer, he was surprised at the answer he got.

"Don't you dare, Serena." Travis ordered. "Now is not the time to start crying over your boyfriend!" as she was about to start wailing. "I'm sorry, sir, her ex-boyfriend's name is Darien and anytime she hears something that reminds her of him, she starts wailing." During this explanation, Serena tried desperately to stop the wail she had started at his name. She just barely managed to swallow it. Jacobson, however, had stopped paying attention. He was looking at the boy he was holding.

"I had almost forgotten about you. You were going to tell me what you were doing going through my papers." He looked at the papers he was holding.

"Your adoption papers? Why were you looking for these?" Serena had bent down to pick up her own papers and was looking at them wide-eyed. As Travis looked over at her, she pointed to the papers Jacobson was holding and mouthed "mine". Travis nodded.

"I..just..wanted to know for sure. Sir." Travis said slowly. Before Jacobson could ask anything, "I just, I don't have anybody left, not really. I mean you're great and all, but I just wanted to know who my parents were, okay? I wanted to know if the day I had always celebrated my birthday on 

was really the day I was born or just something my 'parents' had made up, to make my adoption less likely to be found out. I don't even know if I was born with the name Travis." By the end of this Travis was shouting, and tears were standing in his eyes. It was obvious that he meant every word he said.

Serena looked on in sympathy, then looked down as she felt someone sidling up to her. She smiled at Reenie, who was watching all of this with wide eyes, and drew her gently next to her, leaving her arm around Reenie's shoulders as Reenie held onto her leg. I feel so sorry for him, growing up with a family that didn't love him. It's no wonder he wanted to know about his first family. She stayed quiet, she knew Jacobson had forgotten about them, although Travis hadn't, because he was trying to keep her from seeing his tears. She shot a glance behind him, to where Luna and Apollo were sitting at a window, looking in.

Jacobson's face had softened as he heard his ward's impassioned speech. He could understand. He looked at the paper's in his hand. "Why didn't you just ask instead of looking through my stuff? Never mind, I know, I wasn't here was I? Yes, you've been celebrating the right birthday, Travis. I don't think they would have changed that. As for your parents, their names were Trevor and Sarah Aton."

"Trevor and Sarah Aton, sounds nice." Travis said, even as his eyes were on Serena, who was nodding her head, with a gigantic smile on her face. "And my name? What name was I born with?" He looked back up at his guardian.

Jacobson looked at the top of the page. Without really looking at it, he read. "Serena Usagi...Aton. What?" He stared at the name for a moment, until his attention was taken by one of the two girls he had forgotten.

"YAHOOO! It's true! It's true!" Serena was jumping up and down in place. Travis suddenly wrenched himself free of the hold Jacobson had on him, and ran to Serena. Picking her up he swung her around into a bear hug. They were both laughing and crying at the same time.

Reenie and Jacobson looked on, flabbergasted. Then Jacobson bent down to pick up the papers that the girl had just dropped again. They, too, were adoption papers, and the name at the top was Travis William Aton. He stared at the two papers, comparing them for a long moment, then he spoke. "You're.. Twins?" he asked, completely and utterly stunned.

"What?" Reenie screeched.

Serena laughed. "I told you I hoped it wouldn't be possible for him to be my boyfriend. And it's not!"

Jacobson was still in shock, but was trying to work his way out of it. Then Travis asked a question. "Sir? Which of us was adopted first? Does it say?"

Jacobson noticed that the girl, Serena?, looked a little worried at the question, but he answered it anyway. "You were, Travis, by about three days."

Serena's face cleared up. "See, I told you my parents wouldn't have separated us if they had known. One more question, while your holding the papers, please." At Jacobson's nod, "Which one of us was born first?"

"Um, this says that Serena was born at 10:47 p.m. and Travis at 10:53 p.m."

Jacobson looked up at them. "Will you two stand next to each other for a minute?"

They shrugged and did as he asked. Looking at them, he could see the resemblance, both had high cheekbones and small noses, although Travis's weren't as noticable because he was huskier. Their hair was only shades different and their eyes were exactly the same. The same clear blue, filled at the moment with joy. It was obvious, just from looking in their eyes, that they were both extremely happy at the moment.

"I can see it." Reenie said, also looking at them. "How come nobody noticed it before? They do look a lot alike."

Travis answered before anyone else could. "Because no one was expecting it. After all, I'm from Virginia and we're from separate families. No one even knows, besides us four and Serena's parents, that she's adopted." He thinks for a moment. Then he looks at Serena and his Uncle Darien, "Do you want us to keep it a secret? Serena, if you tell your parents, you'll have to let them know that you know you're adopted. And Uncle Darien, if it gets out everyone will know I'm adopted."

Everyone grew quiet as they thought it over. Then Jacobson spoke. "It doesn't matter anymore, if you're adopted or not, Travis. I don't mind if it gets out." He looks at Serena, "And if she's going to be around for a while, maybe you had better call me Uncle Jake instead. A lot of my friends call me Jake so I won't have any trouble getting used to it." Travis nodded grinning.

Serena spoke up a minute later. "I have to talk to my parents. They need to know. But I don't think we should tell anyone else until I've talked to them, okay?" Travis and Jacobson nod. "Reenie? Is something the matter? You did promise you wouldn't say anything until I gave permission."

"I know and I won't, but not even the others? I thought you didn't keep anything secret from them?" Reenie looked up at Serena, "And what about Darien?"

"No one Reenie, not even the others. I tried to talk to Amy and Lita about what we suspected today, but they weren't talking to me, probably still mad about last night. Besides, this really has nothing to do with them, it's a family thing at the moment. And by the time 'he' comes back, everyone will probably know." Serena thinks for a long moment. "I need to find time to talk to them when Sammy's not at home."

"How 'bout tonight? Sammy's eating dinner at Bobby's I think." Serena nodded. It was obvious to everybody that she was already nervous about it.

Travis looked at his guardian, "Do you mind if I eat dinner at Serena's tonight? I know it's your first night back, but I think she needs the support."

"I have a better idea." He said quietly. "Serena?"

"Yes?"

"I hear that Travis has been eating at your house every morning. I think it's only fair that we return the favor, besides I should meet the parents of my ward's best friend, don't you think? Why don't I invite them over for dinner tonight? It will at least help to put you all on neutral grounds. I think that might be important."

"I think that would be a good idea. Thank you." She suddenly grinned.

"Uncle Jake."

**That night**

"Thank you for inviting us, Mr. Jacobson. I'm sorry our son couldn't come with us tonight, but he had already made plans." Mrs. Tsukino said as she came through the door.

"That's alright, Mrs. Tsukino. Reenie told me he was eating at a friends tonight, but since I'm never sure how long I will be able to stay at home, I decided to invite you over when I could." Jacobson said as he showed the Tsukino's into the dining room where Travis, Serena and Reenie were bringing out the food.

The conversation was light during dinner, focused mainly on Mr. Jacobson's job as a photojournalist. The Tsukinos noticed that Serena didn't eat as fast as usual and rarely talked, but put it down to good manners. They told Jacobson what a good influence Travis was on their daughter. He got a laugh out of Travis's form of a wake-up call.

Then dinner was over and it was time.

All through dinner, Serena tried to think of a subtle way to open the subject. She failed, so finally she decided on her usual way, blunt. As her parents sat down on the couch in the living room, Serena asked it. "Why didn't you ever tell me I was adopted?"

She was watching her family as she said it. Her mother dropped the glass she was holding and her father's face got white and tense.

"How did you know?" her mother asked quietly.

"I've known for years, Mom." Serena said, going to her knees in front of them. "Remember that family tree I did in third grade? You showed me pictures and paintings of all my ancestors. Not a blond among them. Even at that age, I knew it wasn't possible. Then a couple of years ago I found this." She reached over from where she was sitting and Travis handed her a paper.

Her parents barely glanced at it. "Your adoption certificate," her mother said, even quieter. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Do you love me?" Serena asked.

"Of course we do! How could you even ask such a thing?"

Her father than spoke for the first time. "We loved you the moment we saw you, you were only about three months old and looked so little and helpless."

Serena leaned up and kissed her parents on the cheek. "Then 'this' doesn't matter," she said, pointing to the paper her mother was holding. "As I told Travis, when I told him I was adopted. 'Families are made of love. My family loves me. Nothing else matters.'"

"That's sweet." Mrs. Tsukino said, looking at her daughter with new eyes.

"Why did you bring it up, then?" her father asked, still unsure about what was going on and her reaction.

Serena, who was in a very sensitive mood at the moment, saw it and understood. She squirmed up between her parents, and tried as best she could to hug them both at the same time. She turned around so she was facing them again and took their hands. She spoke forcefully and looked them in the eye so they could 'see' she meant it. "You are my parents. I love you and will 'always' love you. Nothing in this world or any other can change that. I am 'your' daughter. I always will be. Don't ever doubt that, please." There were tears in her eyes as she finished.

Serena's mother hugged her for a long moment. Tears dripped down her face. Somehow she had never expected this. Sometimes she had nightmares about Serena finding out and not loving them because they weren't her 'real' parents. Serena had just put all her fears to rest. She knew that Serena had meant every word she said. She looked over at her husband and caught him watching them with a slightly misty-eyed expression. "Why?" she asked.

Serena reached back. Travis again put a paper into her hand and she gave it to her parents. "Look at them," she said, settling back onto the floor.

Her parents stared at the two nearly identical pieces of paper in front of them. Almost simultaneously they raised their heads to look at Travis and Serena, and then at each other. Mr. Tsukino got his voice back first.

"Travis William...Aton?"

"Once, but I'm Travis Watson now, the same way Serena is a Tsukino. It's your decision now." As they both turned to look at him, he continued, "If you don't want anyone to know that Serena's adopted, that's fine. Nobody has to know we're twins. As long as we know, it's alright. You have to decide whether we tell anyone else or keep it a secret."

The Tsukino's thought for a long time. They had kept it a secret because they were afraid of how the children would react. Based on Serena's reaction, they had worried needlessly. They talked quietly for a moment before Mr. Tsukino spoke. "It's fine with us if you want people to know. Just give us a few days to tell Sammy and get him used to it and then you can announce it to the world."

"How about on our birthday?" Travis asked. As they looked towards him inquiringly, he continued his thought. "We could have a double birthday party here at the house and tell everyone at the same time."

"That sounds like a good idea, except for the fact that you didn't ask your guardian first." Mrs. Tsukino laughed for the first time in the last couple of hours. She grew serious once more. "Travis, I want you to think of yourself as part of the family. As our daughter's brother, you are, and we would like you to think of yourself that way. Alright?"

As Travis tried to swallow the lump that had grown in his throat, Jacobson added, "Serena, that goes for you too. You are welcome here whenever you wish. You can even call me Uncle Jake."

"Does that mean we can have the party here?" Serena asked. She grinned at Reenie who had been sitting quietly the whole time. "If the fungus, here, doesn't wreck everything by tripping over her own feet."

"I'm not the one who klutzs out, Meatball Head!" And the arguement they started dispelled the rest of the tension in the room.

**Several days later**

The secret the three kids shared bonded them closer together. Serena was happy about that. Sometimes it seemed they were the only friends she had. The other girls still were barely talking to her and not even Luna could find out why. Because of that, none of them knew about Serena and Travis.

Wednesday afternoon, the three of them went to the arcade.

"Serena, can I talk to you?" Andrew seemed unusually serious and Serena was worried as they followed him into a back room. He started, "Early today I got a call from a friend of mine in Denver. Darien went there on vacation."

Serena bust in. "Something's happened to Darien?"

Reenie followed. "He's okay, right?"

"I'm afraid not. He was exploring some ruins and fell into a pit. It collapsed on him. They couldn't even find his body. I'm sorry. I know you liked him." Serena was just shaking her head as Reenie began wailing.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't believe you! You're lying! Darien's okay. He's got to be!" Travis rushed to her as she screamed. She started hitting him on the chest. "He's okay. I would know if he was hurt. He can't be dead! He can't! He promised he wouldn't leave me alone. He promised, Travis! He always keeps his promises. Always! He's not dead! Make Andrew tell the truth, Travis. Make him admit he lied. Please! Please, Travis!"

Finally she collapsed to her knees, crying as if her world was destroyed. Travis just held her, rocking her, and trying his best to comfort her. He reached out with one hand and pulled Reenie to him and held them both as they cried.

Half an hour later, Reenie had cried herself to exhaustion and was asleep on the floor of the storeroom. Travis still held Serena, she still cried. She wasn't wailing anymore, but nothing he could do could stop the endless rain of tears. After making sure she would be alright for a moment alone, he went into the arcade to call his guardian.

Andrew came up to him. "I didn't think it would hit her that hard."

"She loved him," he said simply and then made his call.

Fifteen minutes later, they were at his house. Jacobson had carried a sobbing Serena out to his car, while Travis followed with a still sleeping Reenie. Reenie was laying in one of the guest bedrooms, while Serena was in another, still sobbing. Luna was in there with her and asked for Travis to leave them alone for a little while. He agreed and was now worrying in the living room. He had tried calling Serena's parents, but they had decided to go out of town for the night with Sammy, since they knew Jacobson could and would take care of the girls and they needed to talk to Sammy alone. Travis went in to check on Serena. He was very surprised when he got there.

Serena wasn't in her room. Luna sat on the windowsill, looking worried. She turned to him. "She got a call. There's a fight going on at, of course, the park. She went, but she's not in any shape to fight. I'm worried about her." she finished, looking out once more.

Travis didn't hesitate. "I'm going after her. I'll tell Uncle Jake that she's asleep and not to bother her."

"What can you do?" Luna asked. You're not a Scout and I don't think you know how to access your prince powers yet, do you?"

"No, I don't. But I will do whatever it takes to make sure she gets home safely." He turns to leave.

He told Jacobson not to bother Serena and that he was going out for a walk. As soon as he was out of sight of the house, he took off running. Apollo found him a moment later. "What's the matter, Travis? Unlike Luna, I am not allowed inside the house. I saw you carrying Serena inside, is she hurt?"

"Not in the body, not yet, anyway. We recieved word that Endymion had died earlier in the week. She's still in shock and then was called on to fight."

Travis wasn't really paying attention to his words. He was more interested in making sure he got to the park.

"That's not possible." Apollo said. His grating voice cut through Travis's thoughts.

"She's Sailor Moon, she's expected to fight. Why isn't it possible?" Travis asked.

"No, I meant Endymion having died and you just getting word. I remember how close you three were. I've seen you limp for a week when he broke his leg. And you were half a solar system away at the time. You would have felt his death, believe me! I've been watching you and Serena this weekend. You've shown no signs that he's even been hurt."

"Maybe the link doesn't work anymore." Travis said.

Apollo shook his head. Travis almost smiled at the sight. "How does Tuxedo Mask always know when Sailor Moon is in trouble? The link is still active and 'cannot' work one way. He's still alive."

"Are you sure, Apollo? If you're right, it's wonderful news, but I won't get Serena's hopes up on a possible." Apollo just looked at him. "Well you believe it, so it problably is true. Why do I have a link with him, anyway?"

"You don't remember?" At Travis's look. "I guess not. You were blood brothers. When you performed the ceremony, you became linked the same way you and Serenity were."

"I need to tell Serena this. Here's the park." He looked towards where lights were flashing. "And there's the fight."

When Travis got to the fight, it was all he could do not to rush in and try to help. The Scouts were having a hard time, fighting a monster made almost entirely out of tentacles. Sailor Mercury was trapped in the droid's hold. Sailor Mars was just getting up from where she had been thrown against a tree. Jupiter and Venus were powering up for their attacks. And Sailor Moon was just standing there, not really paying attention.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" cut the vines off of Sailor Mercury. She fell to the ground. Travis grinned. She was still working her computer and didn't even seem to notice.

"Do something Sailor Moon! Don't just stand there." Sailor Mars yelled out.

Sailor Moon looked up as if she had been awoken from a dream.

"Oh, alright. MOON TIARA MAGIC" and she sent a discus toward the droid. It wasn't a very high powered discus and didn't do any damage.

"What is the matter with you, Sailor Moon? That was pitiful!" Mars yelled.

"You're acting like your best friend died."

Sailor Moon just collapsed weeping.

Travis stared up at Apollo. "I've got to help them. I'm the prince of the Sun, can't I become Sailor Sun, or something."

Apollo shook his head. "Not without the Sun Stone, and I'm not entirely sure where it is."

Travis was about to ask more questions when the action in the clearing took up his attention.

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" both hit at the same time. Almost all of the monster's tentacles fell off.

"MERCURY ICESTORM SPLASH" "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" took off the rest of them.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars called out, but Sailor Moon just lay there, crying. Mars ran up and slapped her across the face. As Sailor Moon looked up, shocked, Mars said, "You are our leader and you will act like it. Or we'll find a new leader. Do you understand?" It was obvious she meant it.

Sailor Moon got to her feet and looked toward the droid. She took out her scepter "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" turned the droid into dust. Then she got up and walked away.

Travis met her as she left the clearing. "Are you alright?"

"That's a dumb question. The man I love is dead and it looks like my bestfriends are turning on me, and you ask if I'm alright?" she almost screamed.

Travis looked on in sympathy. "Apollo doesn't think he's dead." he said simply. As she looked up, he continued, "he says that the link, which always tells Tuxedo Mask when you're in trouble, works both ways, and that if he had died you would have felt it."

"That's true, Princess. The bond between you two was strong enough, that when Endymion got hurt, you felt it up on the moon. There is 'no' way in which you could have not felt him dying while on the same planet."

Sailor Moon thought about it for a very long time. They were almost back to the house by the time she spoke again. "I do remember. I felt it when Zoisite wounded him. I just didn't know what it was." She turned to Travis.

"Do you really believe that he's still alive?" her eyes were begging for reassurance. Travis gave it to her.

"I do. Apollo said, Endymion and I are blood brothers and the bond we have by that is almost as strong as the one you two have. And I don't remember feeling anything was wrong this entire weekend. I think, that until they find his body, I will not believe he is dead. You shouldn't either."

"I'll try." Sailor Moon jumped up to her window. "I'll try."

_To be continued...  
_


	6. The Sun Stone

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Six:** The Sun Stone

Travis went into the kitchen early the next morning and stopped in shock when he saw Serena sitting at the table. He noticed her dejected expression.

"You stopped believing didn't you?" he asked so gently, she didn't even jump at his presence.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice, "but what if we're wrong?"

"Then we have hope for a few more days, and that's better than nothing. But we're not wrong." Travis thought for a few moments. "What happened six months ago?" he asked abruptly.

"Huh?"

"Six months ago, I was sitting in class. I'm told I suddenly fell out of my chair. When the teacher got to me, I wasn't breathing and my heart wasn't beating. They started CPR and three minutes later everything was all right. They took me to the hospital and the doctors could find nothing wrong. My heart was fine, my lungs were healthy, even my brain was okay. They kept me for two weeks trying to find out why my body had suddenly decided to die. So what happened six months ago?" Travis said this as unemotionally as he could. He was still a little scared about it.

Serena started speaking. "Six months ago was the final battle with Queen Beryl. We teleported to the Arctic Circle and started traveling towards her base. She sent the Doom and Gloom girls after us and one by one the Scouts died. When I was the last one left, she teleported me to her throne room. Darien was there. He had been brainwashed by Beryl and thought I was the enemy. He attacked me." Here Serena stopped for a moment to try to get control of herself. Remembering was still hard for her. "I tried to heal him with the crystal and it didn't work. I tried knocking him unconscious with my tiara and it barely even hurt him. Finally I pulled out my locket, you know my star locket, that you gave me for my birthday, and I gave to him before the final battle as a symbol of our love. I held it out and let it play. He touched it and remembered" although she had started speaking almost like an automaton she was smiling at the remembrance now.

Then her voice dropped again. "Queen Beryl picked up this gigantic rock and threw it at us. Darien managed to shatter it with a rose, but slivers of rock hit him in the back as he tried to protect me. He died in my arms." Two tears were falling unnoticed from her eyes. "I went out and used the crystal and my friends' love to defeat her, then I wished for everything to be normal again. Everyone came back to life with no memories of what had happened. We didn't even have memories of each other."

"So it does still work." Travis said quietly. "In effect I died when Darien did the first time. Well, I haven't died yet so neither has he. Understand this Serena, I will believe him dead when I feel myself die. Not before." He stood up. "I will believe him dead only when I feel myself die."

"You're right! He's not dead." She looked up at him and grinned for the first time in almost a day. It was a small grin, and kind of sickly, but it was a grin. "He's not dead."

"Do you really believe that, Serena?" a voice spoke from in back of them as Reenie walked forward with hope shining from her face. "Do you really believe he's not dead?"

"I really believe it, Reenie. The same way Tuxedo Mask always knows when I am hurt, I would know if he was. He's alive, Reenie. I don't know why he's disappeared, and I am worried about that, but he's alive." she said as Reenie stood next to her, looking up.

"I didn't think about that," Travis said, worried again. "Do you think someone's captured him?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to think about it. How about if after school, we all go to the mall?" Serena's eyes had lit up and she started talking. "We could go to that new accessory shop, I hear they have some really cool earrings and the ice cream shop and the chocolate shop, and I need a new pair of shoes and..." she kept talking as Travis and Reenie walked out of the room to get ready for school.

"That Meatball head." Reenie said disgustedly, "Can't keep an idea in her head for more than a minute or two."

"Maybe," said Travis, "but it's nice to see her acting like herself again. This new serious Serena was kind of getting on my nerves. Serena is supposed to act like an airhead, nothing else seems right."

Reenie laughed and agreed. Serena had barely even had a klutz attack since Monday. It was kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for her to go back to normal.

However, over the rest of the day, Travis started to change his mind. Serena was taking her airheadedness to extremes. it seemed like she was getting tired of doing the right thing. Although she had her homework, not even Travis could keep her attention on class. If she answered questions, it was with answers that made no sense and showed she was daydreaming. She whispered with Molly and barely got out of getting detention. The rest of the class didn't know whether to be exasperated at her or glad she had gotten back to normal. Even Miss Haruna wasn't quite sure.

After school, Travis didn't even try to get her to do her homework, he just took her to the mall. After a very long afternoon of mall trolling he took her home and told her parents "She's making up for all the airheaded behaviour she's missed. Be warned."

Amy, Raye, Mina, and Lita had heard about Darien. They wanted to sympathize with Serena, but her behavior last night, and today, had convinced them that their dreams were probably right. 

She didn't care what happened to anyone else. The dreams had been getting worse each night, and although they didn't really believe them, sometimes they couldn't help wondering. They didn't tell anyone about their dreams, each of them too embarrased by the way they seemed to be doubting her. But the more they saw her, the more they started wondering.

It was starting to get obvious by the fight that night. Sailor Moon showed up late and Mercury yelled at her for it. She tripped while running from a solid steel projectile and Jupiter yelled at her for being so clumsy. The more the girls yelled at her, the more distracted and clumsy she got. The more distracted and clumsy she got, the more the other Scouts yelled at her. The droid was almost ignored as the infighting between the Scouts got worse. Finally, Venus called them together. "That's enough everyone! The more you yell at her the worse it's going to get. Let's just take care of this droid and we can yell at her later. Mercury and Mars try to hit it from opposite sides."

It seemed for a moment as if both Mars and Sailor Moon were going to ask who gave her the right to give orders. But they didn't. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" and "MERCURY ICE STORM BLAST" hit the droid from two sides. It had been trying to decide which of them to dodge first and managed to get hit by both.

Everyone turned to stare at Sailor Moon. Under that unified scrutiny, she fumbled forth her scepter and called out "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" and the droid turned into dust.

Sailor Moon looked around at the others. "I'm not going to stand around here and let you yell at me! I've been good, I've been doing better at school and trying to be on time. So I took one day off, that's no reason to yell at me. WHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Why are you being so mean to me today?" And she started wailing as she jumped out of the area.

"She's got to start taking things more seriously." Mars said, almost snarling.

"She was," Mercury replied distractedly. "Today she was just acting like she used to, we shouldn't have been so hard on her." But what if the dreams were right?

Serena went home and collapsed on her bed. "What is going on with them, Luna? I know I've been more airheaded than usual today, but is that any reason for them to yell at me? Huh? Is it?"

Luna looked at her for a long moment. "Mars always yells at you, you never seemed to mind this much before. What happened?"

"It wasn't Raye, she didn't even talk to me. It was Amy and Lita who yelled at me. And they're still not talking to me at school. Do... do you think Rubeus could have gotten to them?"

"I doubt it's that. It's probably just that they're a little jealous of how much time you're spending with Travis."

"Well then I'll tell them about me and Travis and then they'll understand and we can be friends again. Good, now that that's settled, I can go to sleep." And Serena lay down on her bed. Luna 

drifted to sleep, only to be awoken fifteen minutes later, when Serena sighed deeply, got out of bed and started her homework. I've really got to find a way to thank Travis for getting her to do this.

Luna thought sleepily as she drifted back into a dose.

The next morning as Travis and Serena were getting ready to leave the Tsukino house. Travis asked, "Do you have your homework?" Not at all expecting an affirmative answer.

"Yes, it's right here. I did it last night before I went to bed." Serena hid a grin at the expression on his face.

Sammy came into the kitchen just then. He had taken the news about being adopted and Travis and Serena a lot better than anyone thought he would and now tended to treat Travis as an older brother, who could be as fun to tease as his older sister. "Hey Travis, aren't you sorry you got stuck with such a ditz as a sister? I bet you wish you could trade her in for a better model." Sammy laughed.

Serena turned to Travis, "You were supposed to help me with those signs today, weren't you?"

"What signs?"

"The 'brother for sale' signs of course." Serena said and smiled.

"I don't really think we'd get enough money for him to make it worthwhile to make signs, Serena. Maybe we should just let the word travel at school." and Travis smiled back.

"Mom, they're ganging up on me!" Sammy shouted.

"Serena, Travis, don't pick on your brother like that." Mrs. Tsukino said without thinking.

Travis turned to her and bowed. "Thank you, Mrs. Tsukino."

On their way out, Serena asked him, "Why did you thank her? All she did was tell us to stop picking on Sammy."

"No, Serena, she said to stop picking on my brother. She really is starting to think of me as one of the family." Travis looked happy at the thought.

"Oh, to change the subject. During that battle, Wednesday night," when Serena nodded to show she remembered, "I asked Apollo if it was possible for me to become Sailor Sun"

"And he said no, right?" Serena interupted. "The Sailor Scouts are the court of the Princess of the moon, that's why the Earth and the Sun don't have any. You weren't part of the Silver Millenium. Besides there are no male scouts."

"Actually what he said was, 'not without the Sun Stone'." Travis told her.

Serena stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. "You mean you could become a Scout? That would be so cool. Where is this Sun Stone?"

Travis stopped as well. "He doesn't know. I asked him later and about all he could tell me was that it was somewhere in Tokyo."

"Then let's look for it, this afternoon," Serena said as she started walking again. "We can look at that new shopping mall down town."

"I don't think we'll find it in a shopping mall, Serena. This is something hidden. I think." Travis said chasing after her.

"If you're looking for something, malls are the best place to look, they have everything." Serena said airily.

Looks like she's started with the airhead business again. Travis was so busy thinking that he didn't hear Serena's next words. "What?" he asked, even as he thought Oh, no! It's contagious!

"I said, I want to tell Amy and Lita about us, do you mind? Luna says that maybe they haven't been speaking to me because they're jealous of how much time I've been spending with you. Maybe if I tell them why, they'll talk to me again."

"Yeah, go ahead."

All that day, Serena tried to talk to Amy and Lita, but could never catch them alone. She was so distracted by that problem, that the class was sure she had gone back to her airhead ways. By the end of the day she was extremely depressed. Being called to fight before they even got to the mall didn't help.

The other scouts were already fighting when she got there. "Hey Negatrash!" she yelled distracting it, "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love, Justice and Shopping. For messing up my shopping trip, I will punnish you!" Then she jumped down to where the others were standing.

"You're late, Sailor Moon." Mars said. Normally that would be enough to send her into a wailing fit, but instead she just looked at Sailor Mars.

"I don't know what's the matter with all of you, but since you won't tell me, I'll just have to live with it. But I will not live with you yelling about something that's not my fault. I was halfway across the city when this one showed up. I got here as fast as I could. Now let's beat it so I can go back to shopping." And she turned away to face the droid. "MOON TIARA MAGIC" she cried throwing her discus at the droid.

"Sailor Moon, no!" Jupiter cried as she did. Sailor Moon soon found out why. This one looked as though it was a cross between a goat and a human. It also obviously had the ability to hypnotize 

people and had managed to get a large number of people under its spell before the scouts got there. It sent several into the path of the discus.

"TIARA RETURN" Sailor Moon called out immediately pulling her power from it.

It boomeranged around to land in her hand.

"If you'd listened before you started throwing things around, you would have known it did that." Sailor Mars said almost venomously, "But no, you want to get this finished so you can go back to Travis. You don't even care that Darien died. You obviously didn't love him as much as we thought."

"That's not true Mars," she tried to explain.

"Enough talking, we have people to save." Venus cut in before she could.

"Alright, but afterwards, you are all going to listen to me." Sailor Moon said as she turned back towards the droid.

Mercury had been working with her computer through the whole arguement. "I think I can disrupt the droid's hold on these people." she said finally.

"It uses sound frequencies from that pipe. I can set up alternate frequencies to break the hypnotism. But it won't work for long, the pipes have got to be destroyed."

"I can do that," Jupiter said confidently, "As long as nobody spoils my aim by bumping into me." Looking directly at Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon just looked confused.

"You might want to cover your ears," Mercury said, just before a high pitched sound came from her computer and blasted toward the droid. The people around it shook their heads, as if wondering what they were doing there and then started screaming when they caught sight of the droid. As they started scattering, Jupiter started her attack. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" a ball of lightning raced towards the suddenly disorganized droid. He tried calling some of the people in front of him, but no one was listening, and then it was too late. The lightning impacted on his pipes blowing them into millions of little pieces.

"Now!" Venus cried. "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" slammed the droid against a conveniently placed wall.

"You got it!" Mars shouted "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" sent the droid tumbling to the earth.

"No, he got it." Sailor Moon giggled. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" finished the droid off.

"Nice going Sailor brats." A voice called down.

"Rubeus!" came in four voices. Mercury was silent, trying once again to get a fix on his location.

"So you beat my Pan droid, let's try this one, shall we?" Rubeus laughed.

"Droid Reptilia come forth. Take care of these Sailor failures and you will be well rewarded."

"As you wissssh, Massster." A voice hissed from the surronding darkness. A large snake, with the head of a human woman slithered from the underbrush.

"Ew, yuck!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "I hate snakes. They're so slimy."

"Then lets cut off its head." Jupiter said bloodthirstily. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" She waited for the lightning to hit. The droid didn't even try to get out of its way. The lightning hit Reptilia and did nothing.

"What?!"

"Some species of reptiles can't be harmed by elctricity." Mercury said analytically.

"What are they harmed by?" Sailor Moon yelled as she tried to jump over the tail that was sliding by. She almost managed it, but the top of her foot caught the top of the snakes body and she went sprawling. Sailor Moon wailed in fear as the tail came at her again.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" The chain wrapped around Reptilia's tail and Venus pulled. She had just enough strength to stop the droid from crushing Sailor Moon, but she knew she couldn't hold on long.

Reptilia looked at the nuisance holding onto her tail and opened her mouth. Mars tackled Sailor Venus, causing the tail to whiplash. Luckily it missed Sailor Moon, but just barely.

"Hey, why'd ya do that?" She started to ask, until she saw the bare patch of ground where Sailor Venus had been standing.

Mars called out. "Watch out, that thing shoots acid!" Then looking at Sailor Moon, "If you weren't such a klutz, she wouldn't have been in danger by trying to save you." She said with almost as much venom as Reptilia had shot out. Once more, Sailor Moon was left feeling totally confused.

"Most reptiles are cold blooded creatures and can be harmed by cold," Sailor Mercury lectured as she powered up her own attack. "MERCURY ICE STORM BLAST"

A wave of cold flew towards the droid. It moved quickly to get out of the way but was caught in the tail.

"My tail!" Reptilia wailed, "My beautiful tail. You will pay for that SSSailor SSScoutsss."

"In your dreams, monster!" Mars announced. She nodded to Venus who was standing to one side.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" Sailor Venus called out, throwing her chain at Reptilia's head. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROND" flew out to where they expected the droid to dodge to. Unfortunately they calculated wrong. Droid Reptilia was faster than they had expected, ducking under the chain, instead of moving to the side. The fire totally missed her and almost hit Jupiter, who was fuming over her inability to get into the fight.

Jupiter watched the way Reptilia was moving and in a repeat of Sailor Mars's maneuver, tackled Sailor Mercury away from the acid suddenly shooting from the droid's mouth. Sailor Moon had gotten up by this time and was trying to get over to her friends. She decided to try an attack of her own. "MOON TIARA MAGIC" sent one of her disks towards the droid. It easily ducked under the projectile and turned towards its newest, and it seemed weakest threat. Sailor Moon grinned to herself as the tiara came back towards her. She suddenly remembered an attack she had only used a couple of times before. Reptilia saw where her gaze was and followed it to the disk of light coming back at her. She laughed at such a puny attack as she ducked once more. At the instant the tiara was above her head, Sailor Moon yelled out "MOON TIARA STARDUST MAGIC". Twinkles of light left the tiara, and settled on the droid, burning her. Reptilia screamed.

Sailor Moon yelled out loud in delight that her idea had worked. She was so busy congratulating herself, she missed Reptilia's frozen tail swinging towards her and got thrown into a tree.

"Good going, Sailor Moon, a two year old could have evaded that." Jupiter called out. Although she had winced, and worried, when it happened, once she realized that Sailor Moon was alright, all she could think of was how clumsy their leader was. Sailor Moon's next actions didn't help anything.

"WWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Why is everyone so mad at me today? I didn't do anything. You're all just being mean."

Reptilia was so intent on her suddenly easy prey, that she didn't notice her greatest threat gearing up behind her. Instead of shouting out the attack like she normally did, Sailor Mercury whispered "Mercury Ice Storm" as she slowly gathered up her energy. The last word was shouted as she released the energy "BLAST". The wave of cold flew towards Reptilia too fast and too unexpected to be evaded. Reptilia was frozen in place.

"Okay, Sailor Moon, now finish it!" Sailor Venus said impatiently as Sailor Moon kept on wailing.

"Oh, alright." She whined. She stood up and pulled out her scepter. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION". The droid turned to dust. "You happy now?" she asked grumpily.

"We'll be happy when you start acting like a leader instead of like a spoiled brat." Sailor Venus said as the other Scouts left the battle site.

"Wait, I wanted to talk to you!" Sailor Moon called out as she was left alone. "What is it with those people. You'd think they were mad at me for something." She turned away to meet up with Travis before realizing the time. "Mom expects me home for dinner soon, so I guess I'd better go."

The next morning on the way to Travis's house.

"Artemis, what are you doing here?" Serena asked as she saw him waiting at the top of the wall along her property.

"Well, I haven't seen you or Luna for a while, so I decided to see what was going on." Artemis announced as he jumped down to walk next to Luna.

"Hello gorgeous."

"Do you promise to keep it a secret?" Serena asked grinning. "Unless you solemnly swear to hold what you will see a secret in your deepest heart until told otherwise, we will be forced to feed you to Mr. Jacobson's gigantic cat eating golden falcon."

Artemis grinned at the answer, or at least as best as a cat could. Then it faded, "Even from Mina?"

Serena stopped grinning too. "Even from Mina. I tried talking to her and the others yesterday, but they wouldn't listen to me. Has she been acting weird to you?"

"No, not really. She's had a couple of nightmares and has been asking some questions about the Moon Kingdom, but nothing major. Whoa, neat place!" He said as they walked up to Travis's house.

Serena looked at the arrow tacked on the front of the door. "He's around back, come on lets go."

"I was really hoping to talk to you two." Artemis said, slightly annoyed at having to keep silent.

"Don't worry," Luna spoke up for the first time. "Travis knows all about us. He saw Serena transforming, and then heard me speak. I can't believe we were so careless." She looked up at Serena who wasn't paying attention, intent on getting into the back yard. "Okay, I can't believe I was so careless. Ouch!"

"I'm sorry, Luna, I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't mean to kick you. I guess I'm just careless." Serena said with a straight face as she walked on. Artemis fell over laughing.

"Hey Travis," Serena sang out as she walked in the back gate. Travis was standing there, obviously talking to Apollo. "Reenie wasn't able to come, she's spending the day with Amy."

"Hey twin," Travis answered as he gave her a hug.

"Twin?!" Artemis repeated.

"Why yes Artemis," Luna repeated smoothly, as if she had known all along.

"Don't tell me you don't remember Serenity's twin brother, Prince Tranquillity of the Kingdom of the Sun?" Luna's eyes were dancing at being able to one-up her fellow guardian so easily.

"Oh, yeah," Artemis replied devilishly, "He's the one you gave that weird name to. I told you not to suggest it to the queen, but you thought it was 'sooo' perfect."

"Luna!" Travis almost yelled. "You told me it was an accident!"

Grating laughter brought their attention back to Apollo. Artemis walked up to him. "Are you the giant, cat-eating, golden falcon, these two threatened to feed me to if I told anyone their secret?"

"I am, but don't worry, I would never eat you." As Artemis grinned. "Cats taste absolutely awful you know, and don't have enough meat on them to make it worthwhile." Artemis was no longer grinning, but everyone else was. "This is all well and good," Travis said, "but it's not getting us any closer to finding the Sun Stone. Any ideas on where to look, Apollo?"

"I don't have a clue, Travis." Apollo said sadly.

"I still say the mall would be the best pla...no, maybe not." Luna and Artemis looked at her. Serena 'not' wanting to go to the mall? Then she continued. "There's that big flea market going on this weekend. Why don't we look there. They have everything."

"I don't think it would be there, but I don't have any better ideas on where to look either." Apollo said, "and unfortunately, I think I'm the only one who remembers what it looks like."

"Well, all we can do is try." Travis said, resigned to spending another day with one of the world's most exhausting shoppers. They set off, with Luna riding on Serena's shoulder, Artemis on Travis's, getting caught up on what had been happening, and Apollo flying above them. When they got to the flea market, Travis and Artemis groaned at all the shops they would have to look at. Serena smiled and looked at all the places to shop. Luna just saw a very long day ahead of them.

"Let's get started," Serena said, rubbing her hands in delight. Two hours later, Serena had bought and eaten a cotton candy, a piece of rocky road fudge and a bag of popcorn. Travis had had a piece of peanut butter fudge, a bag of peanuts, a piece of rock candy,a bag of popcorn and a coke. Luna and Artemis just shook their heads. Serena had also bought a stuffed rabbit for herself, a smaller copy for Reenie, a cute toy train for Sammy, two shirts, a skirt, four barrettes, and something she wouldn't tell anyone what was. Travis had bought her a crescent moon necklace and matching earings. They finally left the flea market and while standing outside Serena gave Travis the surprise package. Travis gasped when he opened it. Inside was a 

necklace. The pendant was a perfect five inch copy of a sword, done in silver with a large topaz on the hilt.

"Thank you Serena. This is gorgeous." He said as he took it out and put it on.

"I'm glad you like it." Serena started to say as she was distracted by sounds from inside the flea market.

Luna jumped down to investigate. She came running back. "It's a droid. It's sucking energy from all of the patrons. Call the others and get changed."

Serena started to activate her communicator when she stopped. "No. If I can prove I can take a droid down all by myself, maybe the others will stop calling me a coward and clumsy. I'll do this one on my own." She pulled out her locket before Luna could say anything. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER" she cried out as she transformed.

Travis watched the transformation without paying any attention to it. He was too busy worrying and trying to find a way to get her to call the others. Then it was too late. She was gone.

Apollo came down to see what all the commotion was about. Travis turned to explain. Apollo didn't hear a word of it. His eye was caught on Travis's new necklace. "Travis, where did you get that necklace?" he asked.

Travis was already moving towards the flea market. He barely heard Apollo's question as he tried to find a place to watch the fight and maybe help.

"Serena just bought it for me." He reached the flea market in time to hear Sailor Moon's speech to the new droid. The droid looked almost like a normal human woman, only it was about two feet too tall and covered in jewels instead of clothes.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of the Moon. I fight for Love, and I fight for Justice, and I fight for the right of people to go to flea markets in peace. In the name of the Moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil. And that means you!"

The droid didn't wait for Sailor Moon to finish before it started attacking. It pulled jewels off of its clothes and threw them at Sailor Moon. She was so busy posing that she didn't even notice the small gems. They impacted the table she was standing on and exploded. Sailor Moon went down in a heap.

"I've got to help her." Travis said, moving forward. Luna and Artemis were trying to keep him back. "I know I can't do much but I've got to try." Apollo yelled, "Travis!" As Travis reluctantly turned back to his feathered guardian, Apollo looked him in the eye. "I've been trying to tell you. That necklace Serena bought you holds the Sun Stone! This is your version of a transformation wand. Do what you have to do!"

The others stared at Apollo for a long moment. Serena had been right? was their first thought. Then the rest of Apollo's sentance started making sense as Travis heard Sailor Moon scream. "What do I have to do?" he asked desperately.

"You know." Apollo answered, looking at his charge.

Travis nodded slowly. He did know. "SUN STONE POWER" he shouted as he raised the small sword to the sky. A light started burning deep inside of him, moving quickly towards the outside. The light grew so bright that even Apollo, whose kind had been born with the ability to look directly into the sun without blinking, had to turn his head. When they looked back, Sailor Sun stood there. He wore a one piece pants suit that hugged his body tightly. His shirt was white with soft yellow sleeves. His pants looked as if they were made of pure gold. He wore ankle boots and a belt of the same yellow as his sleeves and a gold headband with the sign of the sun in the middle. At his right side, hooked to his belt, was a white scabbard, obviously meant to hold the long sword he held pointing to the sky. The small topaz had grown with the rest of the sword to rival the Moon Crystal.

Travis looked down at his costume. "Cool!" was all he said as he sheathed the sword and started moving towards the droid. He knew that the Scouts always called out to let the droids know they were there, but he thought that was incredibly stupid, so he moved in as silently as he could. "SOLAR FLARE" he called out as soon as he got close enough. Bright yellow and orange flames leapt from his outhrust hands, hitting the droid in the back.

**Meanwhile at the arcade.**

Mina and Reenie were playing each other at Sailor V, while Amy was studying a book she had brought with her. Andrew looked at Reenie, slightly surprised. He asked Lita, who was looking at him with hearts in her eyes.

"Do you know what is up with Serena and Reenie? When I told them about Darien, they both collapsed, but it seems, ever since, as if they've forgotten all about it."

"I don't know," she answered. "They've both been spending a lot of time with Travis, maybe he has something to do with it."

Raye came up to her as Andrew left. "I feel something strange, I think we need to get out of here." she said quietly.

"Lots of luck getting those two out of here." Lita laughed as she pointed to the intense game going on at one of the machines.

"I'll get them, you get Amy. I'll meet you out front." Raye left to get the two gamers. She had to practically pull them off of the game and got some very dirty looks for it. They went outside.

"Well, why did you get us out here?" Mina asked impatiently.

"I feel something evil coming." Raye answered.

"You mean something like that." Reenie asked in a trembling voice, pointing back into the arcade.

The others gathered around to see what Reenie was looking at. It looked like one of the arcade games had come alive. It was electrocuting anyone it could reach.

"Hey, that's the Sailor V game. Whoever did this is going to pay for using 'my" game." Mina cried, looking around quickly before pulling out her transformation pen. "VENUS STAR POWER"

"Stay here out of the way, Reenie." Amy said getting out her own transformation pen. "MERCURY STAR POWER"

"MARS STAR POWER"

"JUPITER STAR POWER"

And the Sailor Scouts started into the arcade. Reenie stopped Sailor Jupiter. "Aren't you going to call Serena?"

"We'll call her if we need her." Jupiter answered. "Not that she would be much good in a fight." Then she went inside, leaving Reenie staring in complete disbelief.

"Hey Negatrash, for blemishing my good name, I will punish you. I am Sailor Venus."

"In the name of the Planet of Ice, I am Sailor Mercury."

"Evil will always be defeated by cleansing fire. In the name of Mars, I will punish you."

"For all electronic games, and in the name of the planet of crashing thunder and lightning. I am Sailor Jupiter."

"I've been waiting for you Sailor Scouts. Where's that pathetic leader of yours? Too busy brushing her hair to come?" The machine laughed electronically. Little figures started coming out of the machine and attacking. Sailor Venus yelled in anger as she was attacked by miniature versions of Sailor V. Within minutes, the Scouts were covered in little Sailor V's and youma's. Although they didn't do much harm, the little attacks were annoying and when hit with twenty at once could hurt.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" swept the little nuisances off of both Mars and Mercury.

Jupiter didn't even bother with an attack. She started to pull electricity into her tiara and down through her body, until anything that touched her was shocked. Once they had all fallen off, she 

pulled the electricity back into her tiara and sent it at the machine. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP" The machine's screen pulsed as the energy overloaded it for a short moment. All of its miniture creations disappeared. "This guys not so tough," Venus announced, tossing back her hair, "but unfortunately we do need Sailor Moon to finish it off. Mercury, call her."

Sailor Mercury shook her head, "I'm busy right now, Mars you do it, I'm trying to reprogram this droid."

"Oh, alright." Sailor Mars agreed reluctantly. "Sailor Moon." she called.

A few seconds later she finally got an answer. "What?" was yelled through the communicator.

"We're fighting a droid at the arcade and we need you here." Mars said, trying to hold her temper.

"Not now. I'm busy. I'll be there when I can." Serena's voice was clearly heard by the others in the room.

"What can be more important than an attack?" Sailor Jupiter yelled back.

She got no answer.

**Back at the flea market.**

Travis's attack had indeed taken the droid by surprise and hurt it some as well. Unfortunately, Sailor Sun didn't have much experience in these kinds of battles. He thought he had done fatal damage and so moved towards Sailor Moon without watching his back. He soon learned better as a chain wrapped around his ankle and pulled him down. He landed heavily, twisting his ankle slightly.

Sailor Moon had gotten up and was staring at the new Scout. She saw the chain holding him down and used her tiara to cut it. She kneeled next to him and tried to get him to his feet. She, also, forgot about the droid behind her. Sailor Sun looked behind her and pushed her out of the way of another gem bomb. Sailor Moon got up. "You're going to pay for hurting him, Nega sleaze," she said angrily. Then stared at the bombs the droid was holding in her hands. She started running, thinking only of getting it away from her hurt brother and not klutzing out. It worked, the droid was following her, throwing bombs that Sailor Moon was able to just jump or dodge. Then her communicator beeped. Not expecting it, the beeping broke her concentration enough that she got caught in the backlash of one of the blasts.

"What?" She yelled into her communicator as she tried to pick herself up.

The droid had almost caught up to her and she barely paid attention to her teammates words about a droid in the arcade. She had her own problems to worry about. As she started to talk into the communicator, the droid caught up with her and a sideswipe of one of its long arms sent Sailor Moon hurtling through a booth. She had slammed into one of the poles of the booth with 

her side and it felt like a rib was broken. She snarled into the communicator. "Not now. I'm busy. I'll be there when I can." Sailor Moon desperately rolled away from the chain that was now reaching for her. It grabbed her wrist and she didn't even hear the next question.

By this time Sailor Sun was back on his feet. He hobbled down the aisle searching for his sister and the droid. He saw Sailor Moon caught and desperately trying to escape. He pulled out his sword in desperation and hissed out "SUN SWORD SLASH" A beam of light flew from his sword and cut off the arm that had just grasped Sailor Moon.

She started to wail in relief before seeing her brother wobbling on his feet. She stood up slowly, favoring her side as she turned to the droid. She pulled out her scepter. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION" she cried and watched the droid turn to dust.

She turned to Sailor Sun, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just a twisted ankle. The question is are 'you' alright? I noticed the way you were favoring your side."

Before she could say anything, the three guardians came up them. "Well done, you two. However,"

"I know, I know" Sailor Moon said, "I should have called the others for help. Which reminds me, they called me for help, I need to go." She started to jump away from the battle site, only to stop in pain. "I don't think my ribs will stand for that." she said. "I'd better take the bus." and she detransformed back to Serena.

Travis also detransformed, and Serena watched in disbelief as his sword became the necklace she had bought him. "I just thought you would like it.

I had no idea."

"You choose good presents, Little Sis."

"Hey, I'm older than you!" she said as they walked towards the bus stop.

When they reached the stop for the arcade, Serena asked that they wait there for her. She didn't want Travis to have to fight anymore with that hurt ankle. She transformed and went into the arcade.

**Meanwhile, back at the arcade.**

"I cannot believe that anything is more important than a fight with a droid.

"She'd better have a good explanation." Jupiter raved.

"She won't." Mars said, positive. "She was probably just out on a date with Travis and didn't want to break it up."

"Um guys," Sailor Mercury asked, "can you pay attention to the droid and not our habitually late leader. I haven't had time to reprogram it and I think it's coming back on-line."

"I'll stop it." Sailor Venus said confidently as it started to get up.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE" she caught its plug with her chain, and started running around and around the droid, tangling it in its own plug. She stood there admiring her handiwork until more miniture Sailor V's came out and cut the cord to little pieces.

Sailor Mercury spoke up again. "It's managed to assimilate the electricity Sailor Jupiter threw at it." At the other's blank looks she tried again.

"That dose of electricity has made it stronger."

"No kidding!" Mars suddenly yelled, jumping on top of a nearby machine to get out of the way of a large bolt of lightning.

Jupiter swept Mercury up and carried her to the top of another. Mercury turned to the machine and cried "MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH". The cold wave slammed into the droid, slowing it for the seconds necessary for Sailor Mars to get into position. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" set a few of the plastic attachments on fire.

"There!" Mercury finally said. "The droid can no longer create those miniture nuisances." As the others looked at her, she shrugged, "Sorry, it's the best I can do."

"Doesn't help much on the electricity, does it?" Sailor Jupiter said as she picked Mercury up again and carried her to another machine, just as the one they had been on exploded.

"I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice. For turning machines meant for pleasure into machines of evil, I will punish you!" Sailor Moon announced as she stepped through the doorway.

"Just destroy the thing, don't yak at it." Sailor Venus yelled impatiently.

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION"

"Are you happy now?" she asked as the droid turned into dust.

"No, we're not happy. Where were you?" Sailor Mars snapped. "No, don't bother answering," she said as Sailor Moon opened her mouth. "I'm sure it wasn't important. I'm tired of hearing excuses from a lazy, sniveling, clumsy coward like you. I'm also tired of our 'leader' being late for fights and having to be rescued all the time. In other words," she said, looking straight at Sailor Moon, "I'm tired of you and I refuse to accept you as my leader any more."

"B..but.." Sailor Moon stuttered.

"She's right." Sailor Mercury agreed. "We should not have to wonder where you are during important things like this. We were hoping you would mature into a good leader, but it's just not happening."

"You don't understand, I.."

"Sailor Moon," Sailor Jupiter put in, "when it comes right down to it, you are no use in a fight. I'm tired of having to save you all the time. I'm also always worried that you're klutz attacks are going to put one of us, or an innocent bystander, into jeopardy."

"Look, " Sailor Venus added, "we'll still protect you, but we just think it's better you don't fight anymore."

Everyone agreed, except Reenie who had just come in. "How can you say that to her?" she asked, almost crying. Strangely enough Sailor Moon was not.

"If that is what you really want," Sailor Moon said slowly and painfully, she waited until they all nodded "then so be it." She turned around and started to walk away. Reenie joined her.

"Reenie," Mars said. "I think it would be better if you stayed with one of us for the time being. I think Jupiter could do a better job of protecting you, besides you're always complaining about Serena's snoring and other bad habits."

Reenie looked up at Sailor Moon and saw the pain that statement had caused. Sailor Moon said quietly "It's up to you."

Sailor Jupiter started walking towards the two, "Come on Reenie, you'll like it at my place."

Reenie didn't hesitate. "No. I'm staying with Serena. I still trust Sailor Moon to take care of me. She's never failed me before and she never will. She promised to always take care of me."

Sailor Moon smiled very slightly, "Thank you, Reenie." she said so quietly even Reenie could barely hear. But Reenie knew.

They walked out of the arcade side by side. Sailor Moon kept her head up and the tears out of her eyes until they rounded the corner. As they reached the others, Sailor Moon detransformed and collapsed sobbing in Travis's arms.

"What happened?" he asked Reenie, worried. "Did she hurt her ribs again?"

"Her ribs? When did she hurt them?" Thinking that might be why she had gotten there so late. She did kind of wonder about that.

"We were attacked at the flea market. I found the Sun Stone and joined her, but we both got hurt before we were able to take the droid down." He said, still distracted by the way Serena was acting. It was the same way she had cried when she heard Darien was dead. As if her world had been destroyed. His head suddenly jerked up as he caught the tail end of Reenie's words.

"What did you say?" he asked incredulously.

"I said, the Sailor Scouts decided they didn't want Serena to be their leader anymore. In fact, they don't even want to fight with her, since she can't even get there on time and always is clumsy and crying." Reenie looked like she wanted to cry, but knew Travis was having enough trouble with Serena, he didn't need anyone else crying on him.

"They can't do that!" Luna said. It's her destiny to lead them." No one was paying attention.

"Didn't she tell them?"

Reenie was already shaking her head. "She never got a chance. They just started tearing into her when the fight was over." she looked at Serena.

"Will she be okay?"

"I don't know Reenie, she was already hurting, not only from the ribs, but from Darien's loss as well. She did 'not' need something else on her head right now." Travis looked very worried and that scared Reenie all the more.

"What do we do now?" she asked in a small voice.

"We go home and try to get her through this." Was the only answer he had.

**In Rubeus's space ship**

"It seems like it has worked." Rubeus smirked. "But who is this new Scout?"

--

_To be continued...  
_


	7. Revelations

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Seven:** Revelations

Once more Serena was crying in a guest bedroom. This time, however, Luna wasn't the only one with her. Travis was sitting next to the bed. Reenie, after being warned again about the ribs, was curled up beside her, and Serena was holding on to her almost desperately. Luna and Artemis were nestled next to her, purring for all they were worth. Apollo was standing on the headboard. Even Luna Ball was hovering as if worried. All in all it was a very full and very worried room. Jacobson was out of town again, so the animals didn't bother keeping their voices down.

"I can't believe they would do this to her." Luna said angrily.

"They know better!" Artemis agreed, "They can't fight without her. None of them has the ability to defeat monsters like she does. What I can't believe is that all of them agreed to it. Maybe, maybe, if they didn't want her as leader anymore after she did something stupid, but not just out of the blue like this."

Serena spoke up for the first time since she had collapsed. Her voice was very small and could barely be heard. "They've been yelling at me all week. And...and Lita seemed to think I was going to cause one of them to be hurt. She even said I might get a civilian hurt because I was so clumsy. Did I do something like that and not know it? Di...did I hurt somebody?"

"I haven't heard of anything like that, and Mina would have told me."

Artemis refused to believe she had done something like that.

"I agree. We would have heard." Luna agreed. "Serena asked me after the last arguement if Rubeus had gotten to them. I'm starting to wonder if she's right."

"I would have to wonder that as well." Apollo spoke up. "This is not normal behaviour for the Scouts. Even I know that, and I have never met them in this incarnation, and only a couple of times in the last."

"Are you sure Mina hasn't been acting strangely, Artemis?" Luna asked again.

"I told you. The only thing out of the ordinary during the last week have been the nightmares and questions. Though come to think of it, the nightmares have come almost every night this week." Artemis looked thoughtful.

"Darien was having weird dreams," Reenie piped up. "I could tell he wasn't sleeping well and he started to tell me, but then he stopped."

"Could Rubeus cause them to have bad dreams?" Luna asked, "No, it couldn't be, the Scouts are too strong willed for something like that to work on them." Luna sounded 'almost' positive.

"Why don't you find out?" Travis asked.

"And how do you expect us to do that? Go up to them and ask if they've been having weird dreams that have caused them to turn on Sailor Moon?" Luna asked sarcastically.

Travis said patiently, "Either that, or watch them tonight while they sleep. There are three of you. You can each visit one of the Scouts that you don't 'know' are having dreams and watch. But Artemis, you'd better go home, or Mina will start worrying about you."

Artemis agreed and got up, going up to Serena's face and licking away some of the tears that were starting to dry up as she got interested in the conversation.

"Artemis," she said. "Don't tell Mina about this, okay?"

"Or what?" he asked trying to lighten her mood, "You'll feed me to a giant cat eating dog?"

She giggled, actually giggled, "No, but I do know this giant cat eating spider."

"Yuck," Artemis said, backing away. "I hate spiders." He turned to Luna, "I'll go by Amy's apartment after Mina goes to sleep, okay?"

"Make sure you stay up long enough to actually do that." Luna snapped as he left through the window.

Luna walked up to look Serena in the eye. "I need to go show Apollo where Lita lives. I'll be back in a while."

"It's okay, Luna. I'm a lot better now. I'm sorry I collapsed like that." she looked like she was about to start crying again. "Maybe they're right, Luna. Maybe I am nothing but a problem to them in a fight."

"Don't start thinking that way, Serena. I know you saved my life this afternoon. I also know you've saved Reenie a time or two." Reenie nodded her head in agreement as Travis continued. "From what I've heard, 'you're' the force that drew them together. If something or someone else is drawing them apart, we've got to find out how and why."

Serena nodded tiredly, it was obvious she was about to fall asleep but she had one more thing to say before Luna and Apollo left. "Why don't we ask Catsy?"

"What?" Everyone asked, mostly because it made sense and they wondered why no one had thought of it before.

"I said, why don't we ask Catsy? Surely the sisters would know if Rubeus was capable of doing it." Serena said the last words even as she slid into sleep. Two fights with droids, a major fight with her best friends and a very long crying jag added up to one very tired girl.

Reenie noticed that Serena still hadn't let go of her and so just snuggled down farther. She smiled contentedly to herself. For once Sailor Moon had needed her instead of the other way around, and Reenie would be happy to stay there as long as necessary. She looked at Travis. "Do you really think someone made them do that to her? I don't see why else they would. They do love her, you know."

"I know. I think it's the best explanation we've come up with so far. I'm glad you decided to stay with her, I could tell it means a lot." Travis hesitated, "If you don't mind my asking, I've heard that you two fight all the time, but I haven't seen it much. And it seems like when you do fight, it's almost on purpose, like to get our minds off more depressing things."

Reenie grinned. "When I first came here, we 'hated' each other. She didn't like being responsible for me and I didn't like the way she whined about everything. She thought I was a brat and I thought she was a baby. But she saved me when I needed her, and she let me sleep in her bed, and read me stories, and helped me with a school curry party and I know she'll always be there if I need her. We really like each other, I think, but ..."

"But?" Travis encouraged quietly.

Reenie looked down at the older girl. "But we can't tell each other because we started out so badly, so we fight. Nowadays we mostly do it because its fun, though. We might not have said anything, but we know. So we fight because we enjoy argueing with each other and it's a 'lot' of fun trying to get her mad."

"I know. I've done it myself a time or two. Want to know a secret?" at her nod, "I only made her do her homework that first day because I knew she didn't want to." Reenie laughed.

"I heard that," Serena mumbled sleepily. "And I do know how to say it, Reenie. I love you. Happy?"

Reenie gasped and turned to Serena, "What? Serena?" but Serena was asleep once more. She turned back to Travis, and for once she looked like a five year old as her eyes shone with tears. "Do you think she meant it?" she asked quaveringly.

"I'm positive of it, Reenie." Travis said as he pulled a blanket up over the two and started to leave the room. "Sleep well." He barely heard her whispered words to Serena as he closed the door but smiled anyway. I think she knows, Reenie. I think she already knows.

**The next morning at Travis's house**

"What did you tell my mom?" Serena asked. She was a little subdued still, and was walking cautiously because of her ribs, but she was looking better than she had the day before.

"The truth." Travis said simply. At Luna's sharp look, he elaborated, "I told her that you had had a major arguement with your friends and went to sleep after crying for a long time and Reenie stayed with you. She came over to check on you a couple of times, but felt it would be better not to wake you. Now what do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm not really hungry," she said quietly as she sat down. Travis and Luna looked at her sharply.

"You need to eat something." Travis said gently.

"Yes, Serena, do eat, it will do you good." Luna put in worriedly.

"I said I'm not hungry!" Serena snapped. Then she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"We know," Travis said when she couldn't finish, "but we're worried about you and we would feel better if you ate."

"I suppose, to make you feel better, I could have some cereal." Serena said dejectedly. When the food came she ate slowly and methodically. Luna and Travis just looked at each other. They didn't know what else they could do.

Artemis came in as they were eating breakfast and Apollo followed soon after. Serena put down her spoon and looked at them. "Well?"

"Unconclusive." Luna said. "Raye stayed up all night meditating in front of the fire."

"Well Lita did have one." Apollo put in next, "I heard her quite clearly when she woke up. She said something about 'not another one'."

Artemis added his own observations. "Amy woke up from a nightmare too."

"So now we tell them about it and everything will go back to normal right?" Serena asked, almost begged.

"It won't be that simple," Luna said, "Can you imagine what Raye would say if we told her something like that?"

"Well first she'd say that I was making it all up so I could get back into their good graces." Serena said after thinking for a very short while. "If we did convince her, she'd then say she felt all those things in the first place and nothing has changed."

"I must admit you're right." Artemis sighed.

"It's too bad we can't take advantage of this." Travis said sighing. "I'd love to see Rubeus's face when he's sure he's dealt with Sailor Moon and then have her show up."

"Why can't we? Artemis, you turned Sailor Venus into Sailor V, couldn't we do something similar and change my costume so they don't know it's me? Maybe use the Lunar Disguise Pen?" Serena was getting excited.

"I'm sorry, Serena, but we wouldn't be able to change your attacks and they wouldn't have any trouble recognizing them." Artemis sounded sad. It 'had' been a good idea.

Serena looked at Luna who was shaking her head. "The Lunar Disguise Pen won't work on your costume because it already has a disguise spell on it. I'm sorry."

Serena looked depressed again.

"Well, why can't she actually become another Scout?" Travis asked. "Say Sailor Saturn or Neptune. One of the planets that doesn't already have a Scout?"

"Because she must be a princess of the planet to become it's Scout." Luna explained patiently. "And Serena is princess only of the Moon Kingdom."

"That's not true." Travis said with a light shining in his eye. Everyone looked at him. "She's my sister, so she's also the princess of the Sun."

"But there's already a Sailor of the Sun." Apollo pointed out. "So? Is there another law I don't know about that says there can only be one Sailor per planet?" Travis looked around at the others.

Serena was also watching the guardians. No one noticed Reenie standing in the doorway. She had heard every word. Serena was princess of the Moon? But her mother was the Queen of the Moon! Did that mean that...? She made a small sound and Serena turned to look at her with the same look of love that she had seen in her mother's face so many times. "Mommy?" Reenie cried softly. Everyone was silent as they looked to see who Reenie was talking to. They turned in time to see Serena's slow smile and nod. Reenie ran up and threw herself into Serena's arms, crying almost as hard as Serena had the night before.

"Serena!" Luna said, extremely shocked, "How could you do that to that poor child, lying to her that way? You know you're not her mother."

Serena's smile for once lived up to its name. It was serene and calm as she looked down at the child in her arms. "Luna, Apollo was right, you 'do' jump to conclusions. Just because she hasn't been born yet, doesn't mean she's not my child. Don't tell me you still haven't figured out that Reenie and the Dark Moon family came from the future? Even I've known that for almost two months." She looked down at Reenie, who had stopped crying and was just holding her. "Unless I'm mistaken," Reenie looked up, "Reenie is the daughter of Serenity and Endymion."

Serena's body tensed slightly as she said this, and relaxed when Reenie nodded her head furiously. "How long have you known? And why didn't you tell me?" Reenie asked excitedly.

"I've been pretty sure since that day the six of us took on the whole Dark Moon Family." Serena started explaining. "I overheard you talking to Luna Ball and she was calling you princess and telling you that the Sailor Scouts would protect you here like they did in your own time. That's when things started fitting together. The family hairstyle, the crescent moon on your forehead, Luna Ball, who really does look almost exactly like Luna."

"Does not!" Luna inserted petulantly.

"Hush. As to why I didn't tell you, fear." Reenie looked up in surprise. Her mother, afraid? "Fear that I was wrong, when I already loved you like a daughter, and most especially fear that Endymion was 'not' your father. As long as I didn't know for sure, you were my hope that everything would eventually work out between us. Once Darien, yes Reenie," as she was about to speak, "Darien is Endymion. Once he disappeared, you were my hope that he would come back alright. He has to, for you to ever be born."

"I wondered why I always felt warm and safe when you and Darien were about," Reenie musingly said. Then she thought of something and looked up at Travis.

"If Serena's my mother, then you must be Uncle Tranq!" Travis winced and nodded and Reenie slid out of Serena's lap to hug him. She looked around at the people and animals in the room. "I can't believe I never figured out who you were!" she exclaimed, "Luna and Artemis live at the palace and you, Apollo come to visit whenever Uncle Tranq does. You look the same, but kind of different too. Diana would be so annoyed that I didn't know her parents when I saw them."

"Who's Diana?" Luna asked.

"Diana's my kitten, she wasn't allowed to come with me. She's your daughter, yours and Artemis's."

"Well, well," Artemis said. "It looks like there a lot you haven't told me, Luna."

Luna blushed furiously.

"Um, Reenie?" Serena said quietly.

Reenie looked up at her and grinned. "Secret?"

"Secret. Can you imagine what my father would say if he knew you were Darien's and my daughter?" Everybody except Apollo and Serena had a good laugh over that. They all knew Mr. Tsukino's views on his daughter and her boyfriends quite well. Travis and Luna exchanged another look over Serena's silence.

"Well," Travis said "it looks like my family is expanding all over the place. Though I didn't expect to become an uncle at the age of fourteen."

"Do you think I expected to become a mother at fourteen?" And she carefully picked Reenie up and sat her in her lap to finish the conversation. "You never answered Travis's question. Can I become Sailor Sun?"

"I don't see how." Luna said, trying to get her mind back on the conversation and out of the well of shock it had been thrown in. You know, this might help explain her new maturity, if she knew she had a daughter to protect. Mother instinct is a very strong force.

"I have to agree with Luna," Apollo said, "It's true she is a princess of the Sun, but even if it was possible, she doesn't have a transformation pen for it."

"Don't you have one in your Lunar Space Pocket, Luna?" Serena asked, the hope dying in her eyes. "I cannot let my Scouts fight without me, but they won't let me fight with them."

"Maybe you can use mine," Travis said pulling out his necklace.

"That's neat, Uncle Tranq, where did you get that?" Reenie said, looking at the perfect miniture sword he held in his hand.

"This is my transformation wand, Reenie, and please, 'don't' call me Uncle Tranq. Serena bought it for me yesterday at the flea market. Boy were we surprised when Apollo told me 'this' was the Sun Stone."

Reenie looked surprised. "But I've seen the Sun Stone and it's much bigger than that."

"Don't worry, it gets bigger when I transform." Travis laughed.

"I didn't get to see you transform, Travis," Serena says almost whining again.

"You wouldn't get to see much. I'm told that I get bright." Travis answered.

"That's true. He gets too bright to look at when he transforms." Luna agreed.

Travis passed the small sword over to Serena, and Serena passed Reenie over to him. "The words are 'Sun Stone Power'." Everyone watched with bated breath as Serena stood up and raised the sword to the sky. "SUN STONE POWER" she cried. Nothing happened.

Luna, Artemis and Apollo sighed. They had hoped it would work, for her sake.

Travis and Serena both looked at the sword and then each other. Travis put Reenie down and limped over to join her. "SUN STONE POWER" they both cried at the same time. Still nothing.

"Wait a minute!" Apollo suddenly said, "Why didn't you change, Travis?"

"Because the activation words weren't right." Travis said distractedly.

Serena spoke up, "Twin?" was all she said.

"We can try, but I don't think so. Two?" Travis answered. Everyone else was completely lost.

"Uh uh, what's that other word for two? I think it starts with a d?"

Serena was still watching Travis. It was obvious that they knew what they were talking about, unfortunately, they weren't interested in explaining it to any one else.

"Duo?" he asked. Then he answered himself. "Duo."

"Duo." she agreed.

Luna was fed up. "What are you two talking about?" she yelled.

Travis and Serena turned to look at the others. Travis laughed at the expressions on everyone's face. Serena started explaining. "When I tried to use the Stone to transform, I did feel something."

"As did I," Travis added.

"It felt like I needed something else to power it. It was trying to activate, but wasn't getting enough of the right kind of energy." Serena continued.

"It was almost like it was reaching out for my energy," Travis said, "So we decided to try it together."

"It almost worked. I could tell, but something was wrong. I wasn't sure exactly what until Travis said it needed different activation words. It needs something to tell it that there are two of us."

Travis finished the explanation. "It's almost like it's sentient. It knows what it needs to work and was trying to tell us. The word is duo."

"Watch." Serena said as they turned back to each other. Their hands met around the sword as they both raised it to the sky and called out in one voice. "SUN STONE POWER DUO". This time the others could see the light building inside both of them. Again they had to cover their eyes from the glare. When they opened their eyes, standing there were 'two' Sailor Suns!

Travis looked like he did the day before. Serena mimiced his colors and her normal uniform. Her skirt was gold, the bows were yellow, her boots were yellow with gold trim. A brooch in the shape of the sun was in the middle of her front bow. Sun earings dangled from her ears and the jewel in her tiara was a topaz. Her hair was still up in balls but didn't contain the jewels of her Sailor Moon form. The female Sailor Sun looked up at the sword she was helping to hold.

"What's that on the blade?"

Travis looked at the blade in surprise. She was right, there was writing on the blade, but he couldn't read it. He held it out to the others, but none of them could read it either.

The male Sailor then looked the female over carefully. "Now if we change your hair and your attitude, no one will know who you are." he grinned.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked almost angrily.

"Well number one," he started to say as he pushed her down into a chair and started to take her hair down. "No more introducing yourself. If we're going to help the Scouts without them 'or' Rubeus knowing who you are, you've got to change the way you act." In an aside, "Reenie, will you go get her brush and comb please." As Reenie left the room he continued. "No more crying or klutzing out. We've got to be there when it's necessary and not there when it's not. Kind of like Tuxedo Mask does."

"How are we going to do that?" she asked.

"We'll watch. Yes, I know its going to be hard to just watch them fight, I've had to watch you fight and get hurt without being able to do anything and it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. But we can't introduce the Sailor Suns to the Scouts. Two minutes of talking to you and they'll know who you are. They might actually start to hate you for going behind their backs like this. Is that what you want?" he asked as he looked into her eyes.

"No," she whispered.

Reenie came back in at that moment with the brush and Travis started brushing out Serena's hair. "What I'm hoping is that if we purposely change your hairstyle while in this form, it will stay this way whenever we transform and go back to normal when we detransform or you transform into Sailor Moon."

"Can you still transform to Sailor Moon in that form?" Luna asked concerned.

"No problem, Luna." Serena said as she took her new brooch off her uniform and turned it around to show it was the back of her normal brooch.

"How did it do that?" Luna asked, very surprised.

"Magic, I guess. Why are you asking me?"

Travis worked quietly for a long time, too long. When he turned her around to look in her face, he could see she was starting to get depressed again. He searched for something to distract her. "What should we do about names?" he asked. At her look, "Well do you really want us both to be called Sailor Sun? If someone calls out, 'Hey Sailor Sun', how will we know who he's talking 

to?" He thought for a long moment, "I know, I'll be Sailor Sun and you can be Sailor Sol. What do you think?"

"Sailor Soul? What does that have to do with the sun?" Serena asked confused.

"Not Sailor Soul, Sailor Sol, S-O-L it's the Latin word for sun and is the official name of our sun."

"If it's the official name, maybe you'd better have it. I don't like officials all that much." Everyone laughed. "Besides, you're the official Sailor of the Sun. I'm the unofficial one."

"Okay, Sailor Sun, what do you think of your new hairdo?" Travis asked, leading her to a mirror. Serena gasped. He had taken her hair down and braided the first half of it, then wrapped it around the back of her head in a flat bun. The rest was left loose and pulled through the bun into a two foot long ponytail. She shook her head and felt the way the ponytail moved. "That feels really weird." She said, still staring at her reflection. She turned to look at Travis. "Are you going to become a hair stylist when you grow up? You do good work."

"You don't look like Serena anymore," Reenie said, very, very quietly.

"That's what we wanted. I can't help the Scouts if they know who I am, they don't want me there anymore." Serena's voice trailed off and she detransformed in silence. Her hair went back to its normal style. "If you don't mind, I'm not feeling so well suddenly, I think I'll go lie down."

"I am going to go give Mina a piece of my mind." Artemis said slowly and firmly. He loved Mina like a daughter, in some ways he felt she was, since they had been together so long. But right now, she needed a very harsh talking to. What they had done to Serena was criminal and he meant to let her know how he felt.

"No, Artemis." Travis said. Artemis looked up at him in surprise. Travis's face looked very angry and Artemis was suddenly glad that it wasn't 'him' Travis was mad at. "We need someone to be on their side. I'm going to go talk to them. Reenie?"

She nodded, "I'll go stay with her." She went into Serena's room. A few minutes later she came back out. She looked like she was trying her hardest not to cry. "She's crying again. She said she wants to be alone."

"Try again in a few minutes, okay? We'll go see the sisters later this afternoon." He looked in his sister's direction, "If she feels up to it."

Travis walked towards the temple where he knew the girls usually gathered. As he walked he thought more about the way they had been treating Serena and he just got madder. By the time he got to the temple he was practically steaming. He stomped up the stairs. Chad was sweeping the top steps. In a very hard voice Travis said. "I'm looking for Raye, Amy, Mina and Lita, are they here?" Chad nodded slowly. He wasn't sure he wanted this dangerous looking young man 

finding the girls, but one look in his eyes made him decide against trying to stop him. Travis walked on.

Amy, Raye, Mina and Lita were gathered in the shrine. They weren't saying much, they felt bad about how they had treated Sailor Moon and didn't want to talk about it. They were just sitting there staring at each other when Travis stalked in. He glared at each of them for a very long moment. Amy actually drew back in fear from the look in his eyes. Nobody else could look him in the eye after that first glance either. That made Raye mad.

"What are you doing here? You weren't invited." she said challengingly.

Travis ignored her. He started to speak. "I thought you were her friends."

He said very softly. Somehow they would have preferred if he shouted. "I thought 'she' was 'your' best friend. I guess I was wrong. I don't know of any one who could treat a 'friend' like that. I don't know what happened last night, I don't really care. What I care about, is that I have one of 'my' best 'friends' crying her heart out in a spare bedroom. She cried herself to sleep last night in there. She's still crying. It tears me up to see her like that and to know that it's the fault of people she thought were her friends. From what I've seen of her, her friends mean more to her than almost anything else in this world and they turned on her. Well, I'm not going to let it happen again. People like you don't deserve to be friends to a person like her. She's one of the sweetest and most caring people I know. And you tore her heart to pieces."

By now, the girls all looked like they wanted to cry, but Travis wasn't finished with them. "Stay away from her." He said, almost snarling. "Don't even come around trying to apologize, just 'Stay' 'Away'. Do you understand?" They nodded and Travis turned to leave. "Oh, one more thing, if I find out that one of you caused her broken rib, I'll forget all about how guys aren't supposed to hit girls and make you regret it. I had thought you weren't the kind of people that would beat up your friends, but after last night I'm not really sure anymore and she had to get those bruises somewhere." He left.

Amy started to cry as he left. Even Raye looked disturbed. Although they knew they had hurt her the night before, they hadn't realized how much. Travis's words made them think of their actions as 'she' must have seen them. Mina started to cry as well, and Lita tried with all her might to keep the tears away. Raye was thinking of Travis's parting words. "I wonder what he meant about her rib and bruises." she wondered out loud.

"I could tell you, but I don't know if I should." A voice spoke behind them. They turned to look. Artemis stood there looking almost as forbidding as Travis had.

"What happened, Artemis? Why didn't she come?" Mina asked in a subdued tone of voice.

"She was fighting." He answered, "She went up against a droid at the flea market. Alone. She didn't want to call you, she wanted to prove that she could take a droid down by herself, so that 

maybe, just maybe, you'd see she wasn't always a coward and clumsy. I hear from Luna that your call startled her, allowing the droid to hit her and throw her into a pole. She would have told you, if you had ever given her a chance. I'm ashamed of you," he looked at Mina, "all of you. And I agree with Travis, stay away from Serena. You are the last people she needs to see right now." He turned to look at everyone. "It should be interesting to see how you fare against a droid without her." He turned to leave.

"Ar..Artemis." Mina called out.

He turned back, "I'll talk to you at home Mina."

"At least he said he'll be there," she said quietly to herself.

"How could we do that to her?" Lita cried out. "Me especially! I'm supposed to protect her, not hurt her. What's happening to us?"

"Do you think we should do what they said?" Mina asked. "Should we stay away from her?"

"We can't take a chance on hurting her more. We've hurt her enough." Raye said, turning to stare into the fire. "She'll get over it," she suddenly said, sounding like she was desperately trying to convince herself. "That airhead can never keep a grudge." I hope.

The next day at school, Amy and Lita got a first hand view of what exactly they had done. Serena didn't even want to look at them, and the one time Amy tried to talk to her, she turned around and walked away. She stayed as close as possible to Travis and he glared at Amy and Lita if they came closer than he thought necessary. They could also see how she was favoring her side. By the end of the day Amy was almost in tears again. Serena hadn't felt like going to visit the four sisters the day before, so she and Travis picked up Reenie to visit them that afternoon.

"Hi Serena, Hi Reenie, and who's this with you?" Birdy called out when she saw them.

"Hi Birdy, this is Travis, he's a friend of mine. Is Catsy busy?" Serena asked quietly.

Birdy frowned at Serena's almost dejected expression. This was not the Serena they knew. "She's in the back, go right in."

"Hi Catsy," Serena said as they saw her in the back. "This is Travis, he knows everything. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Catsy replied, "After the way you helped my sisters and me, I'll tell you anything I can."

"Does Rubeus have the ability to influence people's dreams?" Serena's eyes were almost begging for an answer.

"No," Catsy said and watched despair fall over Serena's face. She saw how Travis held her close as she almost sagged. "But the Wiseman does." She continued as quickly as she could.

"The Wiseman?" Serena asked, life coming back into her expression. "I think I heard Rubeus say something about him once. Who is he?"

"The Wiseman is the leader of the Dark Moon. He is running the campaign in the future and comes to visit every once in a while to see how Rubeus is doing."

"He's the one that gave me the strobe." Prisma put in. She had come in as Serena asked her first question and listened to the answers.

"That's right." Catsy agreed. "I think he had already set a dream on somebody, Prince Endymion I think, that would make him think that if he was close to the Princess she would die. Or something like that. It was one of his back up plans for changing the future. He figured that if he could keep them from marrying, Crystal Tokyo would never exist and the future would be much easier to take over. I got all this from Rubeus in one of his boasting moods so I don't know how much of it is true. But the Wiseman definitely has the ability to plant dreams." Catsy finished.

Serena looked transformed. "That explains everything, Catsy, thank you so much." She went up and hugged the older woman. "Have good luck with your store. I've got to go tell Luna."

"One last thing." Prisma put in. "Rubeus stays in his spaceship almost all the time so it might be a little hard to find him. If you can get him to the ground you might have a better chance at defeating him. If you do get to the ship, or get taken there, be careful, there are a lot of traps."

"Thank you Prisma," Serena smiled and hugged her as well, "I'll remember."

Reenie hugged the two women as well and then took Serena and Travis's hands as they left.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Catsy asked Prisma.

Birdy came in then. "Whatever you said to her sure made a difference. She went out of here in a lot better mood than she came."

"Birdy, if you're in here, who's minding the store?" Prisma asked.

"We don't have any customers at the moment, and I just came in for a minute."Birdy answered.

"You were probably wanting to put on more make-up and are just using that as an excuse." Prisma accused and Serena's questions were temporarily forgotten.

As they were leaving the store, Serena looked much happier. Travis and Reenie smiled at the way she was bubbling. Then the smiles were cut short when Serena's communicator beeped. She pressed the button that let them listen.

"Guys, this is Mina, there's a droid terrorizing people at this restraunt. I could really use some help."

"We're on our way."

"Serena?" Amy said tentatively, "you can come too, if you're listening."

Serena seemed torn whether to answer or not. Then Raye's voice came on. "She's not listening, you know she never notices the communicator unless Luna points it out to her."

Serena's face firmed up and she put down her wrist. She turned to Travis.

"Well, should Sailor Sol and Sailor Sun go watch?"

"I think we'd better. Reenie, will you stay with the four sisters? We'll come pick you up afterwords." Reenie nodded and went back inside. "Let's go, and remember, no speeches, don't talk to anyone. We go in only if it seems they can't handle it themselves, not before. And watch your ribs."

Serena nodded and they went into an empty alley to transform. "SUN STONE POWER DUO" they cried and Sailor Sun and Sailor Sol stood there. Sailor Sun had her new hair style as well. Serena's ribs were well bound and didn't hurt her nearly as much as they had, and Travis's twisted ankle was completely healed, so they were able to run to the battlesite.

When they reached the restraunt, Sailor Sol and Sailor Sun found a place where they could watch the fight without being observed themselves. This droid seemed to have a liking for kitchenware as its weapons and the Scouts were busy trying to dodge thrown knives and forks. It was obvious that some attacks had gotten through to the droid because it was scorched in several places, but it did not look to be seriously hurt.

"MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH" took care of a number of the knives coming towards her and "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND" took out more. But more and more kept coming.

One knife hit Venus in the leg. She fell with a cry. Sailor Sun started to go to her when she noticed Sailor Sol holding on to her arm. "Not yet," was all he said.

Sailor Sol whispered in his sister's ear. "Do you know what your attack is yet?"

"I don't really have one." she whispered back. "I have a wall that can protect them though."

"Alright, I'm going to go around and try to find the back entrance. When you see me behind the droid, try to give me a distraction. 'No' 'Speeches'. Okay?"

"Okay, already. Now do it before any more of them get hurt." He left quietly. Sailor Sun waited impatiently for her brother to show up. As soon as she saw him behind the droid, she ran out in between the droid and the Scouts and called out her 'attack'. "SOLAR CORONA WALL" as her arms spread wide, a mixture of yellow light and yellow flames spread out incinerating anything 

in their path. When she lowered her hands the air was clear and the Scouts and droid were staring at her in surprise. They soon had something else to be surprised at.

"SOLAR FLARE" was called out from behind the droid and the scouts looked to see a 'male' version of the scout in front of them. Yellow flames burst from the hands that were outthrust towards the droid. The droid screamed as it was burned from behind.

"Now, Sailor Scouts, finish it!" The male scout called out.

His words broke the Scouts out of the paralasys they had been under. He moved towards them as the droid started to throw its weapons again. The male Scout called out. "Sailor Sun, can you keep the air clear until we're ready?"

The female scout nodded and turned back towards the droid. "SOLAR CORONA WALL" she yelled her arms going out to her sides once again, creating a wall of fire and light that kept the air behind her clear.

"We need to hit it all at once." the male scout said.

"Wait a minute, who are you?" Mars asked.

"A friend of the Moon Princess. She asked us to look after you, although I have no idea why. Now do you want to take this droid down or don't you? If you don't then my sister and I can just leave." and he looked like he was getting ready to do just that.

"Don't mind Mars." Venus said quickly, "she's suspicious of everyone. What do you want to do? And what can we call you?"

"Thank you Sailor Venus." he bowed courtesly. "I am Sailor Sol and she is Sailor Sun. As for what we do, we hit this droid with a combined attack of everything we have."

Just then, Sailor Sun spoke up. "Sailor Sol, I hate to rush you, but I can't hold this wall forever."

"Put it down on the count of three, but be careful. One," he nodded to the others, they nodded back and got ready "Two, Three!" As he called the last word, Sailor Sun's arms went down and across her chest, enclosing her in a column of fire that would protect her from almost anything.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND"

"MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH"

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE"

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP"

"SOLAR FLARE"

Venus's chain flashed forward surrounded by a glowing barrage of energy. The five powers intertwined so much you could barely tell which was which. The chain flew towards the droid with such speed that it couldn't dodge. The combined power of the five attacks was too much for it and it collapsed into dust.

Sailor Mercury turned to thank the new Scouts, but they were already on their way out the door. She turned back to the others. "Did you hear what he said? The Moon Princess asked them to look in on us. Maybe she doesn't hate us as much as we thought."

"Well if she knew who they were, why didn't they join us before?" Mars asked.

"Why didn't 'who' join you before?" Artemis said as he and Luna walked in the door. Luna looked around at the Scouts for a long moment, sadness and anger plain in her gaze.

The Scouts looked down, they knew what she was thinking. They'd thought it themselves a time or two since Saturday night.

Venus spoke up, "Two new Sailors, Sailor Sun and Sailor Sol, Sailor Sol's a man. He said that the Moon Princess asked them to watch over us."

"The Sailor Suns are not a part of the Sailor Scouts." Luna lectured. "The Sun Kingdom was a kingdom of its own and was not part of the Silver Millenium. I'm surprised they would help you, but they always did get on well with Serenity." She looked around again, "Artemis can debrief you." I' am going to check on Serena." She walked out, leaving the Scouts depressed again.

"Well, at least we've got a cute new scout. He reminds me of my old boyfriend." Sailor Jupiter announced to try to lighten the atmosphere. It didn't work too well.

**Outside**

"Well, it worked this time. Do you think they're okay?" Sailor Sun was asking as they detransformed in a handy alley.

"They'll be fine. They know what they're doing. I do notice a problem." Travis said as they walked out to the sidewalk.

"What's that?" Serena asked surprised.

"You're too happy. Finding out that Rubeus was behind all of this has highly improved your attitude."

Serena was extremely surprised. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, that depends, do you want to explain it to Amy and Lita tomorrow?"

"You mean I have to act mad at them for awhile? WWWWWHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHH That's going to be so hard!" Serena whined.

Travis grinned. It was good to see her back to normal again.

She looked up at him as they walked. I wish it was going to be hard to be mad at them. But they really meant what they said, even if they normally would never have said it. And it still hurts. But he has enough problems, he doesn't need to know.

--

Well, what did you think? Did you expect it? I hope not. Next Chapter, finally, the Return of Darien.

_To be continued..._


	8. The Return of Darien

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Eight: **The Return of Darien

Tuesday passed quietly. Although Serena didn't seem as sad and depressed as she had been the day before, she still refused to talk to Amy or Lita and spent the day close to Travis. That afternoon, Travis, Serena and Rini decided to go see how the arcade was doing.

Serena got even quieter as they got closer to the place of her friends betrayal. Even though she knew they were being manipulated, it didn't make the memories any easier to bear. As they got closer, they saw a group gathered in front of the arcade. Although they couldn't hear what was going on, Serena immediately saw Rei and Mina as part of the group. Her steps got even slower, but Travis and Rini were interested in what was going on and pulled her closer. Then they were there.

Andrew was in the middle of the group, obviously with some big announcement. He started to speak. "Early this morning, as I was cleaning up, I got a phone call. It was Darien. He's alive and well. He was trapped in some caves on Michael's property and just got out."

Andrew's news created a buzz among the people gathered around him. He had seen Serena and Rini join the group and was interested to see what their reaction would be. Serena's face lit up. She turned to Travis. "Did you hear that? He finally showed up. I was really starting to get worried about him."

Rei and Mina were also watching Serena. They saw the relief and joy in her face and heard her words to Travis.

"You mean, you knew he was alive?" Rei asked without thinking.

"I knew he was alive." Serena answered before she turned around and saw who was talking. Then her face lost all expression as she looked at the two girls. She turned back to Travis and started talking excitedly to him and Rini as she obviously ignored the other two.

Rini was jumping up and down in delight as well. "Will he be home soon?" She asked Andrew. "We were really starting to wonder why he hadn't called."

"No, Rini," he answered. "He said he was going to stay for about another week."

"Thanks for the information, Andrew." Travis called out as the three left.

Rini piped up, "And tell him we miss him if he calls back, okay?"

"How did she know?" Rei was asking Mina. Mina didn't answer. She was still watching Serena as she walked away. She wouldn't even look at us she thought despairingly.

Travis and Rini gradually noticed that Serena hadn't taken part in the conversation for a few minutes. Rini looked up at her face and then looked around to make sure no one else was in listening distance. "Mommy?" she asked.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Serena responded absentmindedly.

"Why aren't you happier that Daddy's alive and not captured?" Rini asked.

Travis looked up quickly. Serena didn't look all that happy. In fact, she looked angry? Serena, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Darien being okay and it suddenly hit me that I was mad at him." Serena responded in a kind of shocked voice.

"Huh? Why are you mad at him?" Rini asked, echoing Travis's thought.

"Look, all this time, he's been mean to me because he was trying to protect me, right?" Serena said as she continued walking. She didn't even wait for the others to nod. "But he had no right!" She turned suddenly and looked at them. "His job might be to protect me, but he had no right to make a decision like that! He made my life a living hell, to try to protect me. He never even tried to explain. He might be my protector, but that is not the only thing he is to me. He's the man I love, and I have the right to help decide something that would have this much impact on our relationship. 'Our' relationship. Not his alone." She shook her head. "I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"I think you are," Travis said slowly. "He's been treating you more like a person too young to make important decisions than an adult who has the right to choose. And it can't continue like that if you're going to have a meaningful relationship."

"I know I don't always act like an adult, or even a fourteen year old, but how can he truly love me, as the woman he wants to marry, if he thinks of me as a child? I just wish he could feel what I felt, at least for a little while. Of course, now I am acting like a child, wanting revenge for a slight." Serena slowly turned around and started walking again.

"She's right, he has been really mean to her. He didn't have to be 'that' mean." Rini said quietly to Travis.

"I think it would do her a world of good to be able to get her revenge on him like that." Travis said thoughtfully. "After all, he does deserve it."

"I suppose, as long as its not too bad." Rini said. She loved her father,but she was the one who had had to watch as Serena cried herself to sleep after another fight with him. She had seen how 

much her mother had been hurt by it all. "What should we do?" Rini said, dragging Travis to catch up with Serena.

"What do you mean?" Serena asked, after she was shocked out of her thoughts.

"We agree, Daddy needs to be taught a lesson. So what are we going to do?" Rini said.

"I don't think we really need to do anything." Travis said thoughtfully. "Most of the people around here think that you're my girlfriend and we're not planning on telling anyone the truth for another two weeks. So why don't we just let him believe the same thing everyone else is. If you think the jealousy will be enough of a revenge."

"What makes you think he would be jealous? Maybe he really doesn't love me anymore?" Serena said worriedly.

"If he went to all that trouble to protect you, then he still loves you." Travis said confidently. "He'll be jealous. Will it be enough?"

Serena thought about it for a long moment. "If what he feels is anything like what I felt when I thought he had a new girlfriend then it will be enough." She stopped and dropped to her knees. "Are you sure about this, Rini? I don't want to hurt you."

"It's okay, I understand, and I think he deserves it too." Rini replied. "And..." she looked up at Serena for a long moment before continuing. "My mommy always called me 'Small Lady'."

"Well, Small Lady," Serena said, gathering her into a hug. "What do you think of going for an ice cream? I could really use a triple hot fudge sundae."

"Sounds good to me," Travis said smiling down at the two.

"Me too," Rini agreed, as Serena stood up and Rini took their hands to continue on their way.

The next five days passed fairly quietly. There were only two fights with droids and the Scouts managed to destroy one of them without any help from the Sailors of the Sun, although it did cost them a great deal of energy. In fact, it cost them so much energy that they were barely able to make a dent in the droid the next night.

Sailor Mercury was already down when Sailor Sun and Sailor Sol got there. This time they didn't wait and watch, because it was obvious already that their help was needed. The droid they were fighting was able to throw fire and all of the Scouts showed signs of being singed. Sailor Mars was trying to fight fire with fire.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" she called out, but the droid shrugged it aside.

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" was met with a ball of fire that caused it to explode far from the droid.

"SOLAR FLARE!" Sailor Sol called as he threw himself close to the droid. The droid noticed it was made mostly of fire and so didn't even bother trying to dodge. The attack did manage to hurt it, much to its surprise, but not enough to disable it for even a few seconds.

Sailor Mercury seemed to be the only one with a power that would seriously hurt this droid, but one look at her confirmed she wasn't up to it.

"SOLAR CORONA WALL!" and the fire wall went up just in time to stop several balls of fire from hitting Venus and Jupiter. Venus was trying to get up the power to attack again, but was having a hard time. She along with most of the other Scouts were drained of almost all their power.

While the wall was shielding two of the Scouts, Sailor Mars was outside of its influence and it soon became obvious that she was 'not' immune to fire.

When Sailor Sun saw this she got mad and suddenly knew what to do. She dropped the wall, fell to her knees and called out "SUPER". She stretched her hands above her head and yellow flames glowed on the tops of her palms. Then she just sat there.

The droid looked at her in surprise, as did those Scouts who were able to. Even Sailor Sol stared at her, until her pose awoke knowledge in him. He ran over to where she was kneeling. As he ran he called out one word "NOVA".Flames started curling around his hands as well. He stood behind her and their hands grasped each other. "ANNIHILATE!" They screamed together. Flames, light and power poured from their joined hands at the droid. Its immunity from fire allowed it to survive almost a second of the devestating barrage, before it became dust.

Sailor Sol barely kept himself on his feet as Sailor Sun sagged to the floor.They rested for a few seconds as Venus checked on Mars and Mercury and called out that they would be okay. Sailor Jupiter came towards them. "Thank you." she said quietly. "We would probably have been toast if you hadn't been here." She looked around quickly. "And if you see the Princess will you tell her I'm sorry?"

Sailor Sol nodded as he helped his sister to her feet. They walked outside and disappeared.

**Saturday Afternoon The Tokyo International Airport**

A young man of about twenty stepped off the plane, got his luggage and passed through customs. He went to his apartment to drop off his luggage and get changed, then left to go for a run. The long plane trip had made him stiff and he felt the need to work it out and remind himself that he was home.

As he was jogging to the park, he noticed a young woman he knew leaning on the top of the wall looking down. He stopped to speak to her. "Hello, Amy."

Amy jumped, startled. She turned around and stared for a moment. "Darien?"

"You look like you just saw a ghost." he chuckled, remembering the last time he had said that.

Amy smiled slightly. "I hear you almost were." Then she remembered who she had been watching and turned to lead him away.

He didn't take the hint, leaning on the wall to see what she had been watching so intently. He almost smiled as he saw a young girl with meatball-like balls on her head Serena he sighed to himself, and another girl with pink hair and a floating ball. There's Rini. I'm surprised they're together. Then his face grew blank as he saw the young man they were playing with. All that could be seen from up here was gold blond hair and a lithe body. He and Rini suddenly tackled Serena, and even up here he could hear her laughter as they tickled her.

He turned back to Amy and steadily asked "I take it that is Travis?"

"Yes, Travis Watson, he moved here about three weeks ago." she said quietly.

"Why are you watching them from up here instead of down there?" He asked, trying desperately to get the picture of 'his' Serena with this other boy out of his mind.

"I wouldn't be too welcome down there." she said her voice sad.

"Why not?" Darien asked, surprised, then he thought of something. "Is it because of 'him'?"

It was Amy's turn to look surprised, until she understood what he was thinking. "No, it wasn't anything he's done. He's been nothing but good for her. He's got her doing her homework, getting up on time and even becoming an A-B student. Her parents love him, he eats at their house every morning when he goes to pick her up for school. We think he's one of the best friends she's ever had. And we're happy for her. Because we can't claim that position anymore."

Darien tried to work through that speech. The usually sensible Amy was not talking much sense. What he got first, was that Travis was a really good influence on Serena and her parents liked him. Then he realized what position Amy was talking about. He decided to check and make sure he had understood her correctly.

"You're not her best friends anymore?" he asked, completely shocked.

Amy shook her head, with tears threatening to burst forth.

"What happened?" he almost yelled.

She turned to him suddenly and for the first time in a very long time, lost complete control of herself. "I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted. She tried to regain control, but wasn't able to. This had been building for a week and she needed to let it out. "It's just as if, once you left, all the traits that are so much a part of Serena started bugging us, all of us. We started yelling at her during fights and blaming everything on her. Then, last Saturday, last Saturday..." she trailed off.

"Last Saturday what?" Darien asked as calmly as he could. He knew it must have been bad from the way she was acting. He had never seen Amy lose her cool like this before, and doubted that anyone else had either.

Amy took a deep breath. "Last Saturday we told her that we didn't want Sailor Moon to fight with us anymore." she said in a rush.

Darien just stared at her for a long moment. He shook his head as if that would shake some sense into what she had just said.

Once Amy started, she couldn't stop. "We told her we were tired of having such a clumsy, whining coward as a leader. That we were afraid she would get someone hurt because she was so clumsy. Or because she was always so late to the fights. She was late to that one by the way." Tears were running down her face as she listed their crimes. She turned to Darien again. "She didn't cry," she said in a wondering tone. "She just stood there and looked at us and asked if that was what we really wanted. When we said yes she turned and walked away."

Darien could think of only one word to say. "Why?"

"I 'don't' 'know'. I've been trying to think of a reason and can't. I mean, I know we were all a little jealous of the time she was spending with Travis, and I was jealous that he could get her to do things I couldn't. I had tried to explain that math to her and she never understood, then he comes along out of nowhere and 'he' can make her understand." Amy was starting to regain control of her emotions and think logically about the reasons. Unfortunately, she still couldn't think of a good reason for them to do what they had done. She had certainly been trying for long enough.

She turned back to look at the girl who had been her best friend. Her first friend. Darien leaned on the wall as well. His face grew hard and pain flashed through his eyes as he saw Travis in front of Serena on bended knee, presenting her with a boquet of wild flowers. It didn't help when he did the same to Rini.

Amy abruptly started speaking again and her voice was full of pain. "Travis came to see us the next day. I've never seen anyone so mad. He said Serena was crying, and had cried herself to sleep the night before. He said he had thought we were her friends, but we obviously weren't because friends don't hurt friends that way. And that he wouldn't let us hurt her again, and for us to just stay away. Artemis agreed. Then he, Artemis, told us why she was late."

At Darien's glance Amy explained what she had been doing. His heart almost stopped in his chest when he heard about Serena's injury. "She's okay, now, right?" he asked concerned.

"As far as we can tell, she's fine. She was favoring her side at the beginning of the week, but she's not anymore. She's also not talking to us. Neither is Luna. Or Rini. They're all mad at us. But Serena did ask the Sailors of the Sun to watch out for us, so maybe she doesn't hate us as much as it sometimes seems."

"The Sailors of the Sun?" Darien asked, too much information being given at once for his brain to assimilate. He looked downward once more, only to jerkhis eyes back up, quickly. Not quickly enough, for the sight of Serena and Travis lying next to each other while holding hands had imprinted itself on his eyes.

"Darien!" A voice called out. Rini came running towards him with Luna Ball following after. Darien bent down to pick her up and hug her. He'd missed the little munchkin.

"Hi, munchkin, how you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she answered hugging him. "I'm glad you're back. We'd been starting to get worried when you didn't call, but then you did call, so everything was alright." She pulled back to look him over, "Are you okay? What happened? Why were you missing so long?" she babbled question after question at him. For a short time, his mind had nothing to worry about but answering her.

"Small Lady?" A voice called out from below them.

"That's Serena, I got to go. I'm glad you're back. I'll come visit one day when Serena and Travis want to be alone, 'kay?" And she got down and ran off, all without having even looked at Amy. And without apparently noticing the effect her last statement had had on Darien.

Amy looked at Darien sympathetically. She had managed to get her emotions under control as he talked to Rini. She had seen the pain cross his face at Rini's words. "I'm sorry for breaking down like that."

"It's okay, Amy. You needed that," Darien answered as his eyes followed Rini to where Serena and Travis were waiting for her. He saw her reach up for both of their hands and walk out of the park between them. Serena never even looked back.

"I know it must hurt you to hear about him, but I'm glad he's with her."

Amy said softly. "It was three days before she laughed again. She still looks depressed half the time and I'd hate to see what she'd be like if she didn't have them to lean on."

"I take it she's been getting along better with Rini?" Darien asked without looking at her. He knew she could be very sensitive on occasion and didn't want her to see what he was feeling.

"Yes, much. Come on, lets go sit down and I'll tell you what's been going on while you were gone, and all about the Sailor Suns." Amy led Darien away.

That night as Darien lay in his own bed for the first time in three weeks, more or less, his mind kept replaying the images and conversations he had had today. Serena and Travis lying next to each other on the grass, Rini's voice saying she'll come over when they wanted to be alone, Travis on one knee before her, Amy's words about how good he was for her and how much her parents liked him. He never noticed the tears running silently down his face as he remembered 

other times, when she loved 'him' and they knew they were destined to be together forever. It's my own fault, he thought wretchedly. I wasn't here when she needed me, and he was. After all the times I told her I didn't love her, I guess she found someone who did. "Why?" he suddenly cried out, punching the bed next to him. "Why did I believe those dreams? Why couldn't I just talk to her instead of trying to handle it all myself and just hurt both of us?"

The night offered no answers, only a return of the nightmare.

Darien had a week left on his vacation, and he spent the next several days watching over Serena. Each time he saw her impulsively hug or reach out to Travis was like a stab to his heart, but he couldn't keep himself from following her, trying to memorize her every move. He saw them diligently doing their homework every afternoon, while Rini played in the background. He watched as they joined a martial arts class and practiced in the park afterwards. He saw how Travis was treated by the elder Tsukino's, almost like he was one of the family, and remembered his own dreams of one day being accepted by her family and finally having one of his own. He was watching them shopping in the mall one day when he was accosted.

"If you want to know what they're doing so badly, why don't you join them?" a voice said from behind him.

He jumped and pivoted, only to see a large black cat standing watching him with amusement in her eyes.

"Luna," he gasped, "you surprised me." He flushed guiltily over being caught spying and Luna chuckled.

"I noticed. Let me guess, you just came to see if you could take Rini out for a while?" Luna grinned as she gave him an out. She, Artemis or Apollo had been watching him as he watched Serena and Travis. They had reported his nightmares and spying and been asked to leave him alone, but Luna couldn't resist teasing him.

"Uh, yeah," he agreed quickly. "I just came to see Rini."

"Well, come on, I'll take you down to them." Luna said, turning to lead him down the stairs and out into the mall. He followed, he didn't have much choice.

Rini saw him first. "Darien!" she called. Serena looked up quickly and relief flashed across her face before she hid it. Travis looked up as well, interested in finally meeting the man he was supposed to love like a brother.

"Darien, I'm glad you're okay." Serena said calmly. "Travis, this is my ex-boyfriend, Darien Chiba." Darien winced internally at that description. "Darien this is Travis Watson." They shook hands calmly, neither looking the other in the eye. Travis because he 'knew' him and the memories of their past were flashing across his mind. Darien, because looking at this handsome young man who had the affection of the woman he loved was making him incredibly jealous, 

and he felt the urge to punch him for daring to move on his girl. A girl he had given up all rights to when he broke up with her. And knowing that just made him feel worse.

"I just came to see if Rini wanted to do something." Darien said, looking only at Rini. He saw her look to Serena for permission, something she never would have done before he left.

"It's fine with me. Just bring her back to Travis's house before it gets dark. She knows where it is." She answered Rini and Darien at the same time.

"Great!" Rini said, "What do you want to do?"

The two of them walked away, Rini chattering about his trip and Travis. She was having fun telling him of Travis's house, guardian, falcon, and form of wake-up call.

Serena looked after them wistfully.

"I know. I miss him too." Travis said. Serena looked up to see him lost in thought. "We never got to see each other much because he couldn't come to the Sun and I couldn't go to Earth. The only times we had together was when we could both get to the Moon at the same time. We three became inseperable."

"I'm glad I was a part of it." Serena laughed softly. She was glad the two most important people in her life at that time got on so well.

Travis draped his arm over her shoulders. "Well, do you think he's suffered enough?" he asked, smiling. "I'd really like to get to know my blood brother better."

"I think that by the time Rini gets through touting your praises, he will have." Serena smiled as she thought of being reunited with the man she loved. It had been all she could do to keep from throwing herself into his arms there and then. "I miss him so much."

"I know, Sis, I know." he said as he pulled her into a hug, hiding her wet eyes with his shirt. They stood there for a long moment until she pulled back. "Ready to go?" She nodded.

Darien watched as Travis hugged Serena. He saw the tenderness that was so obvious between them. His heart was heavy in his chest as he turned to Rini. "They love each other, don't they?"

"Of course." Rini answered immediately. She sounded as if that had been a silly question. As Darien felt his heart start to break, she continued, "and they love me, and the Tsukino's and Uncle Jake and Luna and Artemis and Apollo and even the girls, though they're mad at them at the moment. I bet they even love you. Why don't we go ask?"

Darien looked sharply at Rini, she was grinning very slightly, trying to hide it. He looked back at Serena and Travis. He had his arm around her shoulders and she was leaning up against him as they walked. "I don't think that would be a good idea, Rini." But it certainly gave him something to wonder about.

Darien and Rini had left the mall and were walking downtown when they heard the screams. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" came to their ears as well. Darien hesitated, unsure what to do. He jerked his head up as he felt...what? It felt almost as though Sailor Moon was transforming, but not quite. Rini brought his mind back to their location.

"Go!" she said. At his uncomprehending expression she continued. "They might need Tuxedo Mask there! You should go help. I know how to hide." She scampered off.

The droid they were fighting this time had the ability to redirect energy thrown at it. Mars found this out when her fire attack was stopped two feet in front of the droid and sent back against Mercury. She cursed internally as she heard her friend's screams.

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" Jupiter called out, hoping the droid's power only worked against fire. But the lightning was thrown back and narrowly missed Mars.

"Maybe physical energy will get through." Mercury said as she got painfully up. "MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH!" and waves of cold water and ice flew at the droid. However the cold was a form of energy and was repelled.

Venus jumped over the return attack even as she called out her own. "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" the physical manifestation did manage to get past the wall, but didn't do much harm.

The Sailors of the Sun were there as well, they had seen what had happened and decided immediately that using the solar flare would not be a good idea and while the supernova attack might destroy the droid, they couldn't take the chance that it would be able to send back most or all of it. Sailor Sol pulled out his sword and got ready for a purely physical attack while Sailor Sun got her wall ready in case something went wrong. Then a rose flashed through the air and into the leg of the droid. Standing on top of a nearby lamppost was a man in a black tuxedo and cape and a white mask! The other Scouts called out "Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Sun bit her tongue trying to keep her customary words of greeting from leaving her mouth.

"Sailor Scouts," Tuxedo Mask called out "Do not trap yourself into thinking that your magic is your only power."

Sailor Sol suddenly threw himself out of his hiding place and at the droid. The Scouts yelled at him to stop, thinking he was going to use Solar Flare. Instead he pulled out his sword and physically attacked. "SUN SWORD SLASH!" he yelled as his sword split the droid almost in half. Still it didn't die, and managed to throw him off and into a nearby wall.

"No!" Sailor Sun yelled as she threw herself in front of Sailor Sol. Just in time she managed to call out "SOLAR CORONA WALL!". The energy beams disintegrated as they touched the wall. Sailor Sun looked down at the boy she was protecting and her eyes blazed. "You'll pay for that." she said quietly. She pulled her wall in to surround herself in a column of fire, then threw herself at the droid. The energy was far too physical for the droid to reflect it back and it backed away in fear as the rage filled Scout ran at him. She suddenly jumped into the air and executed a perfect 

jump kick. Her flame surrounded leg slammed into the droid's chest. It couldn't withstand that amount of energy and disintegrated.

"Good going, Sailor Sun!" the Scouts congratulated her as she helped her brother to his feet.

She looked up angrily. "If you had treated your leader a little better, we wouldn't have to be here helping you and he wouldn't have gotten hurt." she snarled. The Scouts looked down in shame as Sailor Sol looked at her with worry. They left.

When the Scouts looked up, they realized they were alone, Tuxedo Mask had left as well.

Tuxedo Mask followed the Sailors of the Sun into an empty alley. He stared down at them from a fire escape as they detransformed. His eyes grew wide as he recognized the pair.

"Serena," Travis said quietly. Serena looked down dismally. "I thought you weren't mad at them anymore. Why didn't you tell me?"

"You've had enough problems of mine to deal with, you didn't need this one too," Serena mumbled.

"I thought you'd forgiven them when you found out that the Wiseman had been influencing them through their dreams." Tuxedo Mask caught his breath. Influenced through their dreams? Does that mean, he's been the one sending me those dreams? If so, it was all a trick! I can get her back and she won't be in danger! But what about him? his mind was brought back to the conversation below him by Serena's impassioned words.

"They meant it, Travis! Maybe they normally would never have said it, but they meant every word they said! How could that 'not' hurt? Yes, I'm still mad at them! And myself. I should be able to forgive them for it, but I can't. I can't forget how much they hurt me, and I can't forgive myself for that." Serena refused to give in to the tears brimming in her eyes.

Travis took her in his arms and Tuxedo Mask clenched his fists in frustration. It should have been him comforting her, not this new comer. Travis started to speak and Tuxedo Mask tried to clear his mind to listen.

"You aren't a saint, Serena, and no one expects you to be. I'm sorry that I didn't see how this was affecting you. Maybe we should stop helping them for awhile."

"No!" Serena almost shouted. "Just because I'm mad at them, doesn't mean that I don't still love them. They're my friends and my court, and I will not leave them to fight alone. I just don't want you hurt." She stopped and got control of herself. "I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you, Travis."

"That's what I'm here for, Serena. I will always be here for you. I love you."

Serena smiled up at him. "I love you too, Travis. I don't know what I would have done without you these last couple of weeks."

"I don't plan on you ever having to find out, Serena. I plan on being around for a long time."

Tuxedo Mask stood where he was for a long moment after they left. He had heard the sincerety in their voices and knew in his heart that they had meant every word they said. She loves him he thought as a tear dropped unnoticed to the railing in front of him. She's found someone who will stay with her. I should be happy for her. "How could I have let myself be fooled by those dreams?" he called to the uncaring sky. After all I've done to her, I have no right to interfere with the happiness she's managed to find. he thought as he jumped to the ground and detransformed, then slowly left to find Rini.

Rini was where he had left her. She had been starting to get a little worried when he was late, and the worry didn't abate when she glimpsed the despair on his face at his return. For the rest of their time together she didn't say a word about Travis for fear she would cause him more pain.

As it came time for Darien to take her back, his steps grew slower and his heart heavier. He knew that it would probably be the last time he would be able to be close to the woman he loved. He could not do anything to break up Serena's relationship with Travis without violating his own sense of honor and hurting her more. And he refused to hurt her anymore than he had already.

Darien stared around at the mansion they were walking up to. "This is Travis's house?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yep." Rini chirped as she took his hand and led him inside. The inside of the house was more comfortable than the outside suggested. Rini led him towards the living room, where sounds of the TV could be heard. "We're home," Rini called out.

Darien wasn't sure he wanted to go in there. He didn't want to see the homey scene that was sure to be revealed, with Serena sitting next to Travis on the couch, but he could not resist the chance to see her one more time. He walked in. Serena was sitting on the couch, but Travis was sitting on the right angles to the couch and Darien breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure he could have taken seeing them together.

"Hi, Rini, Hi Darien. Have a good day?" Travis asked pleasantly. "Sit down, Darien and tell us what you've been doing for the week you were gone." Travis pointed at the spot next to Serena.

"No, that's okay. But if you don't mind, I need to talk to Serena for a moment. Alone." Darien knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't leave without saying goodbye and explaining everything.

"All right." Serena agreed, standing up and leading him towards another room. It was the bedroom she used when she stayed the night, and she motioned him into a chair as she closed the door. Neither noticed a black shape slip through the door crack and under the bed. Serena closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed. She looked at him quizzically. "Yes?" she asked.

Darien rushed in to what he needed to say. "Look, Serena, I know you love Travis now and I'm not going to do anything to damage that, but I thought it was only right that you know why I did what I did." And he started to explain the dream and his fears for her safety.

She sat and listened quietly as he talked. When he finished, she asked one question. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"It wasn't your problem, it was mine." He answered simply.

Serena looked at him for a long moment. "You broke up our relationship over it and you say it wasn't my problem?" she asked in disbelief. "Maybe, for once, you should think about my problem with it."

"Look, Serena, I know how much I hurt you. I never wanted to, but I had to keep you safe." Darien's voice was almost begging.

Serena shook her head. "You have no idea how much I was hurting, Darien. I tried to keep it hidden, I couldn't let anyone else see."

"See what?" Darien asked, confused.

"Whatever it was that you saw." She answered softly. "Look at it from my point of view, Darien. A thousand years ago, Prince Endymion fell in love with Princess Serenity. They were so much in love that she willingly followed him into death instead of living without him. They were reborn and could barely stand each other. Then we got our memories back and you loved me again. The you were taken away and lost your memory. I finally manage to heal you and you love me, for a few minutes, until you die. When you live again, it's without your memory and you don't like me much. You get your memory back, and finally, 'finally', we can be together and have a chance to get to know each other in our new incarnations. And you don't love me anymore!" Serena had tears in her eyes as she recites their relationship in a broken tone. "What can I think? But that you found something in me, 'me', Serena Tsukino, that you don't like, much less love. Something that automatically made you stop loving me. It had to be something really horrible to make you stop loving me so abruptly and even leave town to get away from me."

Darien's eyes were filled with horror as he realized what she had been thinking all this time. What his unthinking quest to keep her safe had done.

Under the bed, Luna had much the same expression. She could hear the self-loathing in Serena's voice, and could not believe that she had never noticed how hard this had hit her.

Darien opened his mouth to say something, but Serena wasn't finished.

"Once I figured all that out, I also figured that others might notice whatever it was that you had seen, and they'd stop loving me too. And that seemed to be exactly what happened. They didn't like me anymore, and didn't even want to be near me. Whatever it was about me had to be bad to 

drive all of you away." As Serena spoke the last words, she looked up for the first time since she had begun. This time it was her eyes that were

filled with horror and shock at what she saw. For the first time, she saw Darien cry. His head was buried in his hands as he wept over the pain he had caused.

Luna was in much the same shape, she wept as she realized how much she had failed to understand about the girl she loved like a daughter, how much pain she had been in that Luna hadn't been able to help, because she hadn't been sensitive enough to see.

Serena sprang off of the bed and over to Darien. "I'm sorry, Darien, I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry." Serena said as she pulled him into a hug. "I shouldn't have told you all of that, I didn't really mean to make you feel bad. I'm sorry."

Darien held on to her as tightly as she held on to him. "I'm the one who's sorry, Serena. I had no idea what I was doing to you. I knew you would be hurt, but I thought it would be the best way to deal with it. I didn't think I'd hurt you so bad, I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry, Serena. I know you can never forgive me, but I'm so sorry." Darien's voice was choked as he said these words. Serena's next words took him by surprise.

"Of course I forgive you, Darien. I love you."

Darien looked up in surprise. He gazed into her beautiful blue eyes for a long moment. He had thought he would find them filled with loathing for what he had done. Instead he found every bit of the love he had ever seen in her eyes. He reached out slowly, as if afraid she would pull away or turn out to be nothing but a dream. She leaned in to his touch with a soft sigh.

"Serena?" he asked. He wasn't sure quite what he was asking, but she knew how to answer.

"I love you, Darien. As much as Serenity ever loved Endymion. I do not want to live without you, my love. It is barely a life worth living." Her voice throbbed with sincerity. It seemed she did still love him, even after all he had done.

His eyes shone with wonder and love as he looked at his princess. "I do not know what I have done to deserve such a love, but I swear to you that I will make up for every moment of pain I have given you. I love you more than I can ever tell you. I am so sorry." And slowly, hesitantly, still not quite sure this was real, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

They stayed that way for a very long time, both content to be together. Then, reluctantly, Darien remembered the boy in the living room. "Serena? What about Travis?" His eyes were filled with pain as he let her go, worried that reminding her of her other boy friend would hurt her.

Serena didn't seem the least bit hurt. "Oh, he's probably listening at the door right now. Isn't he?" she called in a loud voice.

Travis laughed as he entered the room. "I'm glad you two finally got that settled." he said easily.

"So am I." Rini agreed emphatically.

Darien got up slowly, looking at Travis. Whatever he had expected, it was not this. Travis seemed genuinely glad that he and Serena were back together. Not exactly what was expected from a new boyfriend.

"Congratulations, Darien." he said, going over to the older boy and taking his hand. This time he looked him in the eye. And Darien remembered.

It was about three months after he had met and fallen in love with Princess Serenity. He was standing beside her out on the palace landing pad. They were waiting, with all of the court, for the shuttle to settle and the ramp to come down. Serenity was trying to stand still, but next to her Endymion could feel how she was fidgeting. He was worried, although he was hiding it better than she was hiding her excitement. He had heard how close she and Prince Tranquillity were. He also knew of the bets going around. Almost half of the members of her court believed that Serenity would forget all about him when the Prince came and he would go home mad at being ignored. Others believed that her deep love for him would make her forget about how close she and her brother were. A closeness many of the court were not happy with, since the Sun Kingdom was only an ally, even if its King was also Royal Consort. Serenity didn't seem to be forgetting either of them, however. Her excitement was almost contagious as she waited for the shuttle to open, but her hand was still holding fast to his.

Then finally it happened, the ramp was down and a golden haired young man was springing down the rampway. For once, Princess Serenity ignored formality and ritual. Still holding Prince Endymion by the hand, she rushed towards him. They hugged each other for a long time, but Serenity still kept hold of his hand. Then she stepped back and introduced them. They clasped hands and stared each other in the eye. At first it was slightly challenging on both their parts. Then it calmed and respect grew as they took the measure of each other. Later it was said that they stood there staring at each other for ten minutes as respect changed to friendship and went farther. By the time they finally let go of each others hand, they were brothers. A bond that was fufilled before they left by the oath of blood brotherhood.

"Prince Tranquillity." Darien said in shock.

"Prince Endymion." Travis answered calmly.

Darien just looked at him, shaking his head. Then he pulled the two of them into a three way hug. "I guess I finally have the family I've always wanted."

Serena burst out laughing. "More than you know, my love." At his questioning look, Serena picked up Rini. "My prince, may I present Neo-Princess Serenity of the Kingdom of the Moon, the Sun, Earth and Crystal Tokyo, daughter of King Endymion of Earth and Neo-Queen Serenity of the Moon."

"Hi, daddy!" Rini said as she threw herself into his arms. Darien looked like he was about to faint.

--

_To Be Continued_


	9. The Prophecy Revealed

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Nine: **The Prophecy Revealed

Darien stared at the little girl in his arms, and then at the two who were standing in front of him grinning, and gulped. "Our..." was all he managed to get out.

"Daughter, yes," Serena said, smiling at the picture they made. In the beginning she had been jealous of how much time they had spent together, but now that she knew of the bond between them, she was just happy. Besides, she knew the bond would always include her.

"I think I need to sit down," Darien said. Still carrying Rini, he walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Serena nestled next to him while Travis took the chair he had been sitting on when Darien came in.

"How long have you known? Why didn't you tell me? How come none of the girls know? And," Darien looked up suddenly, "if you knew the girls were having dreams, did you know about mine as well?"

Serena thought for a second. "A week and a half, you weren't here, they aren't talking to me and yes. Did that answer all of your questions?" she asked grinning slightly. Travis was trying to hide his own grin.

"How long have you known I've been having that dream?" Darien asked quietly, hugging Serena to him with one arm.

"Two days after the fight with the other Scouts," she said, sobering quickly. "We were trying to figure out why the Scouts would do that to me, and Artemis said that Mina had been having nightmares. Rini said you had been having them as well, so we went and asked the Sisters if Rubeus could do something like that. Catsy said that the Wiseman could influence people through their dreams and that he had already laid one on Prince Endymion. It explained a lot, but I was still mad at you for trying to take care of it by yourself."

Darien pulled back a little and looked at her. "Andrew told me that you knew I was alive. How?"

"Apollo reminded us that the bond we shared couldn't go one way. We would have known if you had been seriously hurt, the same way you always know when I am." Serena looked at him. "By the way, why did you disappear for so long? We were starting to worry you had been captured."

So Darien explained, about the cliff village and the caves, the challenges and the Earth Gem. He even told them the Prophecy. Serena was more interested in another part of his story.

"You can become Sailor Earth. How cool! Let me see, please?" she begged.

"Yes Daddy, transform, please?" Rini added her voice to Serena's.

"Please, please. Come on, for us," they both pleaded.

There was no way he could resist the two of them when they ganged up on him like this. "All right! Geesh, you two are dangerous together. I can certainly see the resemblance." The girls grinned at each other as Darien put Rini down and stood up. He moved to the center of the room, conscious of the five sets of eyes watching him. He raised the hand wearing the opal into the air and cried out, "EARTH GEM POWER!" Everyone watched in fascination as the red, green, blue, and white lights flew around him. When it was over, a black and green version of Sailor Sol stood there.

"That is so totally awesome!" Serena exclaimed. "What are your powers, do you know?" she asked.

"No. I understand Tuxedo Mask is stronger, but this form can aid you in things like teleports or Sailor Planet Power. It's got some powers of its own, I know, but I don't think I'll know what they are until I fight in it. Which I hope I never have to do," he added as he transformed back to Darien, "I much prefer Tuxedo Mask."

"You're right, Tuxedo Mask is much more dashing," Serena said thoughtfully.

"Hey!" Travis put in, "Does that mean you don't think my Sailor Sol form is dashing? I am hurt to the quick," he added melodramatically.

"If you start with the formal language, you will be hurt, quick." Serena laughed at him.

"How do you two change into the Sailors of the Sun?" Darien asked as he sat back down.

"We use the Sun Stone," Travis said, taking out his necklace and showing it to Darien. "If we add Duo to the end of my activation words, it knows there are two of us and can transform us both."

"Does that mean you can both be Sailor Moon?" he asked absently as he looked over the miniature sword. He looked up to find everyone staring at him in astonishment.

"Only one way to find out," Serena said excitedly as she hopped off the couch.

Travis got up as well and the two stood facing each other as Serena pulled out her transformation locket. "The words are 'Moon Crystal Power'," she said to him.

"I know that," he answered back. "Just don't forget the Duo."

They both took hold of the transformation locket. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER DUO!" they cried. Feathers and ribbons surrounded the two, and when they could be clearly seen again, there stood two Sailor Moons. The original looked as she always did, red, white and blue with crescent moon earrings and jewels on her hair. Beside her stood a male version. Blue pants, white shirt, with red sleeves, belt and shoes and a blue headband with a crescent moon on it. The main difference in their costumes, not counting that she was wearing a very short skirt and he was wearing pants, was the fact that the male had a white scabbard on his left side, holding a long sword.

Rini clapped her hands in delight. "Neat, now you can both be Sailor Moon or Sailor Sun."

"This day is just full of surprises, isn't it?" the female Sailor asked, looking at her counterpart.

They detransformed and sat back down. Darien handed the sword back and Travis looked at it, remembering something. "I'm interested in this prophecy, Darien," Travis said, "What language did you say it was written in?"

"An ancient rune that I was forced to learn while growing up," Darien said lightly. "Why?"

Travis held up his little sword. "SUN STONE POWER!" he called. When the light had fallen back to bearable levels, he handed the sword to Darien. "Did they look like that?"

"Yes," he said excitedly, "these are the same kinds of runes. This must be part of the prophecy. It says:

_'Two Earths, two Moons, two Suns_

_Though only three survive._

_Three stones consumed,_

_Three stones resumed,_

_Three stones that did arrive.'_

"What the heck does that mean?" Serena asked. "Luna, Apollo, do you know anything about this?"

"It sounds slightly familiar, but I don't have any real memory of it," Luna said slowly.

"I must agree," Apollo added, "It sounds like something I've heard about, but I don't recall anything specific."

"Well, maybe the two Moons and two Suns are us when we duo," Travis suggested.

"Maybe," Serena agreed slowly, "I bet the three stones are ours. You know, the Moon Crystal, Sun Stone, and Earth Gem."

"I agree," Darien nodded, looking at her strangely. Everyone else had had time to get used to her occasionally saying something intelligent, and just nodded their heads in agreement.

Travis got a pencil and paper and wrote down the prophecy, having Darien repeat it several times to make sure he got the whole thing correct. Then he made copies and passed it around.

Serena stared at hers for a long moment before speaking very quietly, "I wish Amy were here to help."

Everyone except Darien froze. This was the first time she had said something like that since the argument.

"Or Rei, she might be able to see something in the fire," Serena continued in the same quiet voice. She looked up to see them all watching her and blushed. In an even quieter voice she said, "I miss them so much."

"I thought you were still mad at them," Travis said in a voice almost as quiet.

"I am, but I'd forgive them if they asked me to. But they don't even try to talk to me anymore. I guess they really don't care." Serena looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. Darien put his arm around her and Rini climbed into her lap as Travis flushed.

"Well, um, I kind of told them not to come near you again," Travis admitted shamefaced.

"What?" Serena asked, surprised.

"You were crying, and I was very angry at them. I tracked them down and told them the best thing they could do would be to stay away from you," he mumbled.

"Travis!" she exclaimed, "What if they wanted to apologize?"

"Hey," he tried to get himself out of the situation he was obviously in, "Artemis agreed with me. He told them they should stay away too."

Serena's eye were blazing. "You mean all of this time, they might have wanted to say they were sorry, but you kept them away? How could you, Travis?"

"I thought it was best. You weren't in any condition to talk to them at the time. I just didn't think they would stay away for this long." Travis looked steadily into her eyes. Serena dropped her eyes. She knew he was right. She would not have been able to handle them those first couple of days. The wounds had been too fresh. "Lita did ask that if we saw the Princess, we should tell her she was sorry."

Serena nodded slowly. "I remember."

"Amy was standing watching you, up where you couldn't see her, that day I got back. I would say she had been doing it a lot, just trying to keep an eye on you," Darien said. "When I asked her what had happened, she almost collapsed."

"Amy!" Serena asked, shocked.

Darien nodded as Luna put in her own observations. "Artemis has been saying that Mina is depressed and sometimes calls out in her sleep, asking you to forgive her."

Serena sank her head into her hands. "I need to talk to them," she said very slowly.

"Are you sure?" Travis asked.

She raised her head and nodded even as she leaned closer to Darien and hugged Rini, seeming to take strength from knowing the people in this room loved her.

"I'll go with you," Darien volunteered immediately.

"No, I've got to do this myself." She grinned slightly as she looked at all the concerned faces surrounding her. "I might need you here when I get back, though. Especially since the first person I'm going to talk to will be Rei."

"Rei!" came from everyone. Rini managed to get the first new word in. "Why Rei? She's the only one we don't 'know' wants you back."

"That's why, Rini. From what you guys say, I would say the other girls are sorry. Rei's the only one I can't be sure about. The one I've never been sure about," she added almost inaudibly.

She stood up. "Well, better go before I lose my nerve."

"Good luck," Travis said.

"We'll be here when you get back," Darien added supportedly.

"It'll be all right, Mommy," Rini chirped up, "You'll see."

"I hope you're right, Small Lady, I hope you're right." She left the room, then stuck her head back in as Travis started to open his mouth. "And do 'not' follow me, or send Apollo or Luna to do so." She left as Travis closed his mouth and looked after her in annoyance.

As Serena got closer to the temple, her apprehension increased and her steps slowed. When she was at the bottom of the steps she stopped. Come on, Serena, you've faced Beryl, Alan and Ann, and Rubeus, you can face Rei too. Constantly encouraging herself, she walked up the steps and reached the courtyard. No one was there. She walked inside, her steps leading her to the place where Rei always went when confused or needing guidance, the Great Fire.

As Serena walked towards the meditation room, her heart was beating fast and her breath was getting shallow. She stopped in front of the door, to try to gather her courage one more time. As her hand reached to open the door, she could hear Rei's voice and stopped to listen. She didn't want to talk to her in front of anyone else.

"Great Fire, please tell me what I can do to make Serena forgive us," Serena almost stopped breathing altogether, as she heard Rei's words, and a little of the fear she was feeling was transformed into relief.

She walked into the room as Rei dropped out of her meditation. Serena's eyes widened with disbelief as she saw a single tear glimmer in the light of the fire.

Rei stared into the fire for another long moment. Her voice was filled with defeat as she spoke to herself, "Why won't it answer? Maybe...maybe there 'is' no way to make her like us again." Her head shot up as she suddenly sensed she was not alone. She spun into a crouch, ready to tear apart whoever dared to disturb her. It took a long moment for her mind to come up with a name for the person standing there. For a long moment, Rei thought she was dreaming as she stared at Serena. Then Rei saw her eyes.

Serena's eyes had always been the windows of her soul, usually filled with laughter and love, sometimes with sadness or anger. It had always been easy to tell how she was feeling with just one look. Never before, in all the moods Rei had seen Serena in, through all the fights they had had, never had she seen what she saw now. Fear and wariness. Of her. Rei felt something inside of her break. Of them all, she had been the one who had seen the least of Serena after the argument. She had never truly believed that Serena 'could' hate them; she had thought the others were just being overly sensitive. She knew that Serena had too much love in her to hate anyone. But even that would have been more bearable than this. 'Anything' would have been better than knowing that Serena was actually scared of her.

Rei let out a strangled sound and pulled her eyes away from the person who had been her friend. She tried desperately to keep the tears of pain from showing. She had never dreamed she could hurt another person that badly. Especially Serena.

Serena's heart softened and the fear left her eyes as she saw Rei almost collapse to the ground. She walked over and kneeled next to her.

"Rei?" was all she said.

"Go away!" Rei whispered brokenly. Serena's head shot up in surprise, disappointment and hurt. She started to get up. "Please, just go away, I don't want to hurt you anymore," Rei continued.

Serena gently laid her hand on Rei's shoulder. Rei jerked as though she'd been shot. "Rei. It's all right, Rei," Serena said softly.

"No, it's not alright!" Rei said savagely. "We're supposed to protect you, not hurt you. And...and you're never supposed to be afraid of 'us'. We don't deserve to be your Scouts anymore." Rei fumbled in her robe and took out her transformation pen. "Here, take it! I shouldn't have it, it's obvious that I've failed you."

"No!" Serena said sharply, "You are one of my Scouts and nothing will ever change that!"

"We changed that!" Rei almost shouted back, still not looking at Serena. "We changed it when we told you we didn't want you to fight with us anymore. AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY!" She did shout this time.

"I do," was Serena's answer.

"What?" Rei's head jerked up and she stared once more into Serena's eyes. This time she didn't see much of the fear, there was still a little, but it was almost covered by her normal good humor.

"I said, I know why you turned on me like that. At least I think I do." She looked seriously at Rei. "How have your dreams been lately?"

"My dreams?" Rei asked musingly. It didn't take her long to understand what Serena was saying. "Do you mean, someone was giving me those dreams? The ones where someone got hurt because you were so clumsy and where I never became a priestess because I spent so much time around you? They were all given to me to break us up? AND I FELL FOR IT!" Once more Rei was shouting as her temper exploded, "WHO!"

"The Wiseman, Rebeus' boss," Serena answered, she had drawn back a little when Rei started shouting but stayed where she was.

Rei saw the fear come back into Serena's eyes and forced herself to calm down. She turned to stare into the fire for a long moment and only turned around when she was sure of her control. "Are you sure?"

"Fairly. We know he has the ability to do so. We know he did so to Darien, and we know all of you were having nightmares. What do 'you' think?"

Rei looked down. "I think we owe you an apology. Especially me. You're right, you know, it was the dreams that made me start wondering. They just kept happening, night after night, until I had to wonder if they might be true. I'm...sorry," she said haltingly, it was obviously hard for her. "I never meant to hurt you."

The last of the fear left Serena's eyes and heart. It was obvious that Rei meant every word she had said. Serena's eyes shone as she impulsively hugged Rei. Rei was surprised at first, but that didn't stop her from hugging back the friend she had almost lost.

"I've missed you, Rei," Serena finally said, "I haven't had a good argument in weeks!"

Rei burst into laughter that was very close to tears as she sat back. Serena was grinning madly. "How long have you known?" Rei asked.

"About a week and a half," Serena answered absently, still thinking about the apology Rei had given.

"A week and a half? And you just now told me?" Rei started in an argumentative tone. She suddenly realized that that might not be the best way to speak to her right now, but Serena's answer put that worry to rest.

"Hey, you weren't talking to me!" she answered, strangely happy that they were fighting again.

"Well if you'd told us, Meatball Head, we would have been speaking to you earlier."

"As if you'd have believed me! You wouldn't believe me if I said today was Monday."

"That's because today is Wednesday!"

"See, I told you you wouldn't believe me! You never do!"

"Well, if you'd talk sense, I might believe you more often."

"Yeah, right!"

Amy, Mina, Lita, and Artemis walked up the steps to the temple. As they got closer they could hear voices raised in argument. Mina looked at the others. "That sounds like Rei and Serena!"

"It couldn't be. She's probably just yelling at Chad again," Amy said sadly.

Artemis, however, had been listening intently, and his ears were better than his human companions. "It 'is' Rei and Serena," he told them, "and it sounds like one of their regular arguments."

"Let's go see. Maybe she'll talk to us again!" Lita exclaimed, almost running into the temple. The others followed quickly. As they went into the temple, they could understand the voices. It definitely was Serena and Rei.

"You said Darien was having dreams too," Rei's voice came through easily and the others stopped suddenly and looked at each other. Almost in one voice they whispered, "'Dreams'?" Rei's voice was louder than that as she finished. "Does that mean you've finally gotten back together with him?"

"Why? You want to steal him back?" Serena's voice answered.

"No. I just want to know how your new boyfriend, Travis, took it."

"Well, if you'd been talking to me, I would have told you he wasn't my boyfriend."

"Hey! He's the one who told us to stay away from you!"

"Yes, I know. He told me today, I could have strangled him. Though he was right at first. I wouldn't have been able to handle talking to you those first couple of days. It still hurt too much. Even knowing you were being manipulated didn't help."

The other three had reached the doorway to the meditation room. They looked in to see Serena and Rei kneeling across from each other.

Mina was the first to speak during the silence after that statement. "Would it help if we said we were sorry?" she asked quietly.

Serena and Rei jerked around. Serena stared at the three girls standing in the doorway and fear flashed through her eyes. The girls saw it and once more cursed the way they'd talked to her that day. They started to leave, pain crossing their features. Like Rei, they couldn't believe they had hurt her so much that she was actually afraid of them. But Serena nodded very slowly. "I think it might," she said softly.

They walked into the room and settled down around Serena. Amy spoke first, "I'm sorry, Serena. I didn't really think you were that immature. I know how much you've grown in the last year. I never meant to really hurt you, I just... just..."

"Started to believe what the dreams were saying," Lita finished for her. "I dreamed that you had a klutz attack and caused me to hit innocents, including Ken."

"I dreamed that you were pulling my grades down, and your lateness caused one of us to get hurt," Amy added, filled with shame.

"I was the worst one," Mina said slowly. "I didn't really have dreams about people getting hurt. I dreamed that I was the leader of the Scouts on the Moon, because you never fought then." Mina's eyes filled with tears. "I was just being selfish and I'm so sorry." She burst out crying.

Serena immediately went over to her and hugged her. "I understand," she whispered.

Amy spoke again, "And then it seemed as if everything you did, just reinforced the worries we were having."

"And we just got madder at you," Rei said.

"Why didn't you talk to me about the dreams?" Serena asked from her spot next to Mina.

"I don't know about the others, but at first I was ashamed that I could have dreams like that about you," Lita said. "I knew you wouldn't have done anything like that and I just tried to put it out of my mind."

The others murmured agreement.

"We didn't talk to each other about them either. I'm sure if we had, we would have figured out we were being manipulated," Amy said. "By the way, who gave us the dreams? And how did you know about it?"

Serena answered, "The Wiseman is Rubeus' boss, and he has the ability to influence people's dreams. As to how I know, when Artemis said that you, Mina, had been having strange dreams, Rini remembered that Darien had as well. So we went and asked the Sisters if Rubeus had the ability to give people dreams. They said that he didn't, but the Wiseman does. They also told us that Rubeus stays in a spaceship, high above Tokyo, most of the time. That's why we couldn't find his base."

"A spaceship! No wonder my computer couldn't get a reading on it. I'll have to recalibrate to take that into account," Amy started mumbling to herself as she pulled out her computer.

Serena laughed. "It's good to be with you again. I've missed you all. Even the pyro here."

Amy flushed and put up her computer just in time to receive an almost smothering hug from Serena. She wasn't about to complain, even if Serena 'was' cutting off her air supply.

Serena crawled over and hugged Lita as well, then she bounced to her feet. "Come on," she said, "I've learned a lot of things in these last few weeks and I think you should hear about them. Well? Come on!" she called back over her shoulder as she almost danced out of the room.

The others lost no time in hurrying after her.

Serena led them up the hill. Although none of them had ever been there before, they figured out they were going to Travis' house, because no one else they knew lived up there. Their eyes grew wide as they saw the mansion. Serena led them inside.

"I'm back," she called out as soon as she walked inside.

"Did you talk to her?" a voice called out from the room they were heading towards. Serena walked through the doorway and the others followed slowly. Mainly, they were gawking at the house. Their stares quickly moved to the room they were entering. To their surprise, they saw Darien and Travis sitting comfortably, almost next to each other.

The second thing they saw was the large stuffed falcon on the mantle.

"Of course I did, Muffin," Serena answered, plopping down next to him.

"I said I would, didn't I?"

Rini was the first one to notice the five standing in the doorway.

"You're back together!" she yelled, delighted, getting up and throwing herself into each one's arms.

Travis stood up. "Have a seat, ladies, and I'll get something for us to drink."

"And eat," Serena put in.

"Of course, did you ever have any doubt?" he laughed.

During this, Artemis had hopped off of Mina's shoulder, where he had been listening quietly, and went over to talk to Luna on the fireplace hearth.

Serena suddenly didn't seem to know what to say as the others sat down. She fiddled with her shirt for a few minutes before jumping to her feet. "I'll go help Travis," she said brightly. As she rushed towards the kitchen, Travis came out. Not watching where she was going, Serena ran right into him, spilling the drinks and snacks all over the place and herself. Everyone burst out laughing. They couldn't help themselves. It even looked like the stuffed falcon was trying to keep from laughing. Serena's face screwed up into a pout.

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she wailed. "Why are you laughing at me? It's not funny!" They just laughed harder. It had been so long since they had been able to really laugh that they just couldn't stop. Even Darien was trying his best to restrain himself as he went to pick Serena up off the floor. Serena stomped off to get changed as the others laughed themselves out.

When Serena finally came back out, the mess had been cleaned up and no one was laughing, out loud at least.

"So, what did you want to tell us?" Rei asked from her seat on the hearth.

"Oh, just that Travis is my twin brother, Prince Tranquillity, Rini is Darien's and my daughter from the future, and I've been Sailor Sun for the past week and a half." Serena grinned as she dropped the bombshells.

This time it was Serena's turn to burst out laughing as she watched them try to work through what she had just said. Travis, Darien, and Rini joined her as the girls started asking questions.

"Your brother?" "Prince 'Tranquillity'?" "What do you mean, your daughter?" "How could you be Sailor Sun, if you're already Sailor Moon?" The questions were coming so fast that it was impossible to tell who was asking what.

Serena was laughing too hard to answer, so Travis got himself under control. "Yes, I am her twin in both this time and last. If you think Tranquillity is a funny name, imagine how I felt growing up with it. Our mother was the Queen of the Moon and our father was the King of the Sun. Because of that I am Prince of the Moon and the Sun and she is

Princess of the Moon and the Sun. That is what allows us to both become the Sailors of the Sun."

"But why?" Lita asked, confused.

"Because you didn't want Sailor Moon to fight with you, and I knew how much danger you'd be in without me," Serena answered when she stopped laughing. "I couldn't let you get hurt, just because I wasn't there. So when we found out we could 'Duo' our powers to both became Sailor Sun, we decided to help out as someone you and Rubeus wouldn't recognize."

The next hour was spent explaining what had happened to all of them during the last several weeks. Darien was forced to transform into Sailor Earth again, just so the girls could see. They were all a little surprised when the falcon added his comments. Apologies, explanations and demonstrations, not to mention a little gossip filled the hour.

Then they started to talk about the prophecy.

Amy programmed the prophecy into her computer as everyone looked at the copiesTravis and Darien had made for them while Serena was gone.

Travis said, "We're pretty sure that the three stones are Serena's Moon Crystal, my Sun Stone, and Darien's Earth Gem, but we don't understand any of the rest of it."

"That cave I was in showed that all of the planets had Scouts, maybe that's the nine Scouts," Darien put in.

Mina shook her head. "But that's nine Scouts of nine planets, this says there's only five planets."

Lita seemed to be counting in her head, "Hey, that's what we've got here!" As the others looked at her she continued, "We've got Scouts from the five inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. That's five planets. Two Scouts from the Sun, which isn't a planet and two from the Moon, which also isn't a planet. Nine Scouts, five planets, see?"

"I suppose it could be," Serena said slowly, the others murmured agreement, "but I thought we were in the next part, 'two Moons, two Suns'."

"I hope not, I really don't like the line after that," Darien's voice was worried. "'Though only three survive.'"

"No one says you can be in only one part, Meatballs for Brains," Rei put in sarcastically.

"I guess that means I'm more important than you, don't it?" Serena answered saucily.

Mina jumped in to defuse the argument. "Amy, what does your computer say?"

"It's still working on it, but I don't think we have enough data," Amy said seriously. "Serena, can I see your transformation locket?"

"Sure," Serena responded, taking it out. "Why do you want it?"

"Well, from what you said, one part of the prophecy was found under the Earth Gem, and one part on the Sun Stone Sword. So wouldn't it be logical for there to be a third part around the Moon Crystal?"

"I suppose so, but I've never seen anything like those runes on the locket. Or anywhere else for that matter," Serena answered.

Amy looked the locket over minutely, before suddenly transforming to Sailor Mercury and using her visor. "They're there, I think," she said.

"But they're 'under' the Crystal. Even at highest magnification, I can barely tell that they are there."

Serena took the locket back and holding it in one hand, kept the other hand about three inches above it. It was obvious to everyone that she was concentrating very hard, even her crescent moon started glowing from the amount of concentration she was using. Suddenly the Crystal rose out of the locket and settled in her upper hand. Serena sat back with a sigh, wiping sweat off of her forehead and handing the locket to Mercury once more.

Everyone except Mercury was staring at Serena. She just grinned mischievously causing Rini to start giggling.

Mercury looked at the runes written in the locket. Her computer translated it easily. "Okay everyone, I think this is the rest of the prophecy. It says:

'When power into the child is cast,

The Universe is safe at last.'"

"The child!" Everyone said, looking quickly at Rini. Serena picked her up and held her tightly.

"Calm down, Serena. It might not have meant Rini," Travis said, trying to calm his own worries.

Serena just looked up at him for a moment and then recited, "'Three bloodlines and four crowns'".

"Of course," Darien answered pulling both Serena and Rini into his arms.

"You're right," Apollo said from his perch on the hearth. "I had forgotten, but that prophecy is one of the reasons your parents got married, Travis."

"And why Queen Serenity was so happy when the Princess fell in love with a prince of Earth," Luna added, "It added the third bloodline and the third crown."

"So you're saying the three bloodlines are the Moon, Sun and Earth royal lines. And the crowns are the Moon Kingdom, Sun Kingdom, and Kingdom of Earth, right?" Mina asked, lightening the confusion they were all under.

"Then what's the fourth crown?" Lita asked, still slightly confused.

"Crystal Tokyo," Serena, Travis, Darien, Luna, Artemis, Apollo, and Amy all answered at once.

Rini looked like she was about to cry. She wasn't sure exactly what the prophecy meant. All she knew was that her parents were very worried about her, and that scared her.

Amy got to work inputting the new information to her computer. When she was finished the computer started giving out its answer. "Listen up, everybody. The computer says that the prophecy must take place in the future. That the two Earths are King Endymion and Darien. The two Moons are Neo-Queen Serenity and Serena, the two Suns are King

Tranquillity and Travis. At least that's the information it has."

"But we can't go to the future!" Lita exclaimed.

"Yes we can, Lita," Rini answered, "The Crystal Time Key that Puu gave me will take us back."

"Who's Puu, Rini?" Mina asked in a soft voice.

"She's the Guardian of Time and she tries to take care of me," Rini answered happily.

"PLUTO!" the three guardians exclaimed.

"I thought Sailor Pluto was just a myth!" Luna said excitedly.

"Sailor Pluto!" everyone practically yelled.

Artemis replied to that, "Sailor Pluto is supposed to be the Guardian of Time but no one has ever seen her."

"'I' see her all the time," Rini said proudly.

"So is she the fifth planet?" Rei asked for once not having many smart remarks.

"I thought we agreed that Earth was the fifth planet," Lita said, after all it was her theory.

"I don't think that's right anymore, Lita. Rini, do the Sailor Scouts exist in the future?" Rei asked intently.

"You guys? Yeah, of course you do," Rini answered brightly.

"So we have two Scouts of each of our four planets and Pluto. Nine Scouts, five planets," Rei said, sure that she was right.

"I disagree," Lita said angrily.

"I'm tired of talking about this," Serena whined. "Let's do something else."

"Ice cream shop?" Travis asked.

"Yeah!" Serena and Rini yelled.

"Serena, Travis! This is serious Scout business," Luna said. She'd started expecting better of the two.

"Chill, Luna, I don't think we're going to get anything else done right now," Serena said as she walked out.

"We're only going to argue if we keep on like this," Darien agreed as he got up, "and we really don't need another fight right now."

The others reluctantly agreed.

As the group headed towards the ice cream parlor, they heard the sounds of the one thing they did not want to deal with right now. A droid on a rampage.

Rini ran off to hide as the Scouts got ready to fight.

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"SUN STONE POWER DUO!"

The Scouts looked surprised as Sailor Sun and Sailor Sol stood there. Sailor Sun explained, "We were trying to fool Rubeus, too, you know. That hasn't changed."

The six Scouts and Tuxedo Mask ran towards the sounds of screaming. However, when they got there, they found an empty parking lot, with not a droid in sight.

"Hey, where's the fight?" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed. Then they heard it. One very familiar scream from back where they'd come from and coming closer.

"Rini!" Sailor Sun and Tuxedo Mask yelled. Suddenly, standing there in the middle of the air was Rubeus. And he was holding a squirming, pink haired little girl.

"I finally have her. And now the Universe will be mine," he said as he disappeared.

The last thing they heard was Rini's voice, "Mommy! Help me!"

--

_To Be Continued_


	10. Reenie's Rescue

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Ten:** Reenie's Rescue

"REENIE!" the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask screamed.

Sailor Sol moved towards his sister, expecting her to collapse into tears at this blow. He looked into her eyes and almost took a step back. Her eyes were hard and very, very angry.

"Find them, Mercury," she commanded, "Find them!"

Mercury didn't look up from where she was working furiously. "I'm trying, Serena, I just need a little time."

"My daughter doesn't have time!" Sailor Sun started to yell.

Tuxedo Mask moved towards her and took her in his arms. "Yelling at her won't help anyone, sweetheart. You know she's working as fast as she can. She'll find her, don't worry."

She buried her head in his chest and let a few tears fall. However, when she spoke, her voice was still hard and unyielding. "She will find them, and we'll get Reenie back, and then Rubeus will pay. He will pay for daring to touch her! And if he's harmed even one hair on her head..."

The Scouts found themselves shuddering. Each of them hoped that Reenie was unharmed, not only for the little girl's sake, but because they really didn't want to know what their normally gentle Princess would do to Rubeus if she had been hurt.

"I have him!" Sailor Mercury suddenly yelled. "His ship is in stationary orbit over downtown."

"Do you have a good enough lock for us to teleport?" Sailor Sun asked instantly as she turned towards her.

"Yes!" Mercury said.

"Then let's go!"

Tuxedo Mask seemed to be thinking as the Scouts gathered in a circle.

"Don't," Sailor Sun said. "Let's keep it a secret for as long as possible, teleporting you won't drain us."

"She's acting like our leader," Mars whispered to Venus.

"She is!" Venus hissed back.

"I know that, but she's never acted like it before." Mars answered, before a glare from Sailor Sun caused her to grow quiet and get into the circle.

Sailor Sun stood in the middle next to Tuxedo Mask. As everyone stared, she shrugged impatiently. "I'm not sure how Duo powers would work in a group and this is no time to experiment. Let's go!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"SUN STONE POWER!"

"SAILOR TELEPORT!"

As the Scouts concentrated, their bodies were outlined in light and their hair stood out from the power they were generating. Then they disappeared, leaving behind a golden falcon circling the field and a small black ball, shaped like a cat's head, floating.

Inside a spaceship, high above Tokyo, the seven reappeared. As the light faded, they stared around at the room they were in. It was completely bare except for a door in one side and what looked like a TV screen on another.

Mercury immediately lowered her visor and started scanning. She looked at the others, shocked, "My visor's not getting any readings on these walls. It's like they're not even there!"

Jupiter went over and rapped on a wall, while Mars tried the door. "It sure feels real to me," Jupiter said.

"The door's locked," Sailor Mars said quietly.

"I don't like this," Venus said, looking around nervously. "It feels like a trap."

"How observant, Sailor Venus," a voice chuckled evilly. Everyone quickly turned towards the viewscreen to see Rubeus grinning at them.

"Where's Reenie?" Sailor Sun asked harshly.

"Why the little rabbit is right here, enjoying my 'hospitality'!" he laughed again. "Too bad Sailor Moon's not here to help you. But I'm not surprised, not after the way you all turned on her. I never 'dreamed' you would be so easy to manipulate."

Sailor Jupiter growled and leapt towards the screen. "I'll show you who's easy to manipulate!" she snarled. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" The lightningball hit the screen with a satisfying crackle. However, when the sparks died down, Rubeus was still grinning at them from the intact screen. "No way!" Jupiter screeched.

"I've been planning this for the past two weeks," he said. "The room you'rein is shielded against every form of energy; fire, light, ice, lightning, even your annoying Sun power and those stupid roses. It also has a few little surprises. Enjoy yourself, while you still can." He disappeared.

"I wonder what he meant by that," Sailor Sol mused.

Sailor Mars wasn't paying attention. "I don't believe it." Mars said, turning to the wall. "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" she called out confidently. That confidence faded fast as the rings of fire impacted the wall and dissipated without leaving a mark.

Tuxedo Mask threw a rose at the wall and watched it bounce off onto the floor. Sailor Sol tried his sword with no better success.

Mercury spoke up. "We'd better do something quickly. The area of floor space has decreased measurably in the last two minutes." As everyone looked at her with blank faces, she rephrased it. "The walls are closing in on us!"

"Oh come on, can't he think of anything new?" Sailor Venus asked in disgust. "Moving walls have been used in every bad horror movie ever made." She then noticed the glares she was receiving from the others and flushed.

"Sorry."

"Should we try becoming Sailor Moon?" Sailor Sol asked his sister.

She shook her head. "He's been very thorough so far, I can't imagine him not shielding the room from Moon power, just in case she showed up."

"Then what are we going to do?" Jupiter called out. "These walls are closing fast!"

"He can't have shielded from a power he didn't know about!" Sailor Sun said excitedly.

"Now if only we had one," Mars remarked sarcastically.

"We do," was the answer, "I think only Sailor Earth can get us out of this."

"Of course!" the others yelled, relieved and surprised.

"I don't even know what my powers are," Tuxedo Mask complained as he stepped away from the others. "EARTH GEM POWER!"

Sailor Earth stepped towards one of the unmoving walls. The one without the door, since he thought that one was probably a trap. He searched his mind for his power. He knew that if he couldn't find it, then his Princess would die. That thought triggered the knowledge. The walls were only four feet apart as it came to him.

"EARTH TECTONIC QUAKE!" he yelled, slamming his hands downward. The other Scouts closed their eyes in defeat as nothing happened. Then with a loud rumble, the floor underneath the wall almost exploded upwards, tearing an opening into the next room. The walls were only two feet apart as he stepped through and the others quickly followed.

Reenie glared at Rubeus with loathing and fright. "You won't get away with this. The Sailor Scouts will save me! You'll see."

"Oh, I reeaaally doubt that, Rabbit. That trap they are in was made especially for them. There is no way they will ever get out." He looked down at the scared little girl. "Now, hand over the crystal!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't have the crystal. It's Sailor Moon's and she won't give it to me until you're dead and dusted. So there." she said, sticking out her tongue at him.

"Well, then, you'll just have to take it from her, won't you?" Rubeus laughed.

"I wouldn't do that!" Reenie said with less confidence than she would have wished. She did 'not' like the way that Rubeus was grinning at her.

"Oh, I think you will," he said easily, flipping a switch behind him.

"You're getting sleepy now, aren't you?" He didn't get an answer. Reenie had already dropped to the ground.

Rubeus stretched Reenie out in a specially made capsule and activated the crystal the Wiseman had given him. He chuckled to himself, When properly brainwashed she will be a much better servant than those incompetent sisters.

The crystal had been specially crafted by the Wiseman to twist Reenie's memories of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion.

Reenie started twisting uneasily under the influence of the crystal.

Memories assailed her of her life in Crystal Tokyo. Days when her parents were too busy to play with her were changed by the crystal into deliberate neglect. Minor restrictions were turned into a prison like atmosphere.

Rubeus smiled as he looked down at the little girl. He watched as her golden crescent moon flickered into a black upside down crescent and back. More and more the black crescent moon showed. "Soon, little one, you will hate your parents so much that you will do anything to get back at them."

New memories came pouring into her. Memories of Rubeus and the Wiseman being nice to her. Telling her that if she couldn't trust her own parents she could always trust them. More and more dark energy poured into her, and the black crescent moon was now only flickering, never totally disappearing.

As the Sailor Scouts broke out of the shielded room, Mercury's computer suddenly started getting readings once more. "The control room's about forty meters away. Downward!"

Sailor Earth didn't hesitate, "EARTH TECTONIC QUAKE!" he called pointing to the floor.

Sailor Sol and Venus joined him. "SUN SWORD SLASH!" "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Within seconds the three had blasted a hole in the floor large enough for the largest of them to pass through. In a flash of rose petals, Tuxedo Mask dropped through the hole. The Scouts quickly followed.

Tuxedo Mask landed easily and moved out of the way as Sol, Venus and Jupiter jumped down. He managed to catch Sailor Sun, and she thanked him absently as Jupiter caught Mercury and Mars landed on her feet. They were in a large room with what looked like five large windows looking down on Tokyo.

"Which way, Mercury?" Sailor Sun asked as the others were looking around.

After a quick check, Mercury pointed to the right. Sailor Sun immediately started off and the others hurried after her. As they walked past the windows, they started to shimmer. What seemed like hundreds of large black rats erupted from the windows. The girls screamed in disgust and started attacking. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" caused lightning to fly out wildly, Jupiter not seeming to care what she hit as long as she destroyed the rats. Her eyes were wide and staring as she tried to destroy all the rats in the room.

"Jupiter! What's the matter with you?" Sailor Mercury asked worriedly as she started her own attack. "MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH!" froze a great number of the creatures, but among that horde, it didn't make much difference.

"I HATE RATS!!" Sailor Jupiter gritted even as she attacked again.

"You need to calm down, Jupiter!" Sailor Venus called out. Her chain was doing even less damage against the rats than Tuxedo Mask's roses. His roses were killing the rats individually, but killing one or two among hundreds had no impact on the number.

"Yes, control yourself, Sailor Jupiter." Mars put in as her "CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" flew out and crisped another couple of dozen.

Sailor Sol didn't bother saying anything except "SOLAR FLARE!" his attack doing as much damage as Sailor Mars'.

Sailor Sun looked around. "We don't have time for this!" she yelled.

"SOLAR CORONA WALL!" she called out. However, she didn't raise her arms to the side to create the wall, or cross them in front of her for her own personal wall, instead she raised them above her and clasped them together. As the others watched in disbelief, a wall of fire surrounded 'them' burning the rats in their path. Sailor Sun started to walk forward, carrying the wall with her. The other Scouts followed promptly, the wall not giving them much choice as it moved forward, threatening to burn them if they didn't keep up.

"I didn't know she could do that!" Mars whispered to Sailor Sol.

"At the moment, what she can or cannot do doesn't really seem to matter to her," he answered. "She will do what she has to do to get her daughter back."

Sailor Jupiter looked at the wall as if she was contemplating going through it to get at the rats, but sighed and caught up with the others.

"What's your problem with the rats, Jupiter?" Sailor Venus asked quizically.

"I hate rats!" she shuddered.

"You told us that!" Mars sounded exasperated, "Why do you hate rats?"

"I had a babysitter when I was little who told me that if I was bad, she would feed me to the rats. Then she showed me videos of rats eating a baby cow. I had nightmares for years. I still can't stand rats." The others shuddered in sympathy.

"How old were you?" Sailor Sun asked quietly.

"Five." Sailor Jupiter answered. "So you be careful what kind of babysitters you get for Reenie when we get her back, okay?"

"Well, I don't think I will have to worry about that for awhile," she answered. "Because once we get Reenie back, we're going to take care of Rubeus once and for all. And I promised that once that happened we would go to the future and help her mother."

By this time they were out of the window room, so Sailor Sun dropped the wall. They were in a short corridor that led to a sliding door. Mercury scanned again. "It's behind this door," she whispered.

Behind that door Rubeus was gloating as the crystal started the third part of its function, blocking all nonchanged or implanted memories. By this time, the dark energy had entered totally into the little girl and the black crescent moon on her forehead never even flickered. That was when Rubeus was distracted by an explosion at the door. As he turned he saw the door blown open and the Scouts enter, crouched and ready for a fight.

"REENIE!" Most of them yelled as they saw her lying under a crystal radiating black energy over her. Tuxedo Mask quickly threw a rose that hit and destroyed the crystal.

"Did you really think that would do any good?" Rubeus asked contemptously.

"What have you done to her?" Sailor Sun growled the question.

"Why, I've made her into the perfect NegaMoon warrior." He turned to the little girl. "Well actually that's not true. She's a little small to be a perfect warrior. I think I'll do something about that." With only that warning, he turned to the capsule and pressed a button. A sheet of clear plastic covered Reenie.

The Scouts jumped to attack. Tuxedo Mask threw almost a dozen roses at the capsule cover, but they didn't even scratch it. Whatever that stuff was, it wasn't plastic. The other Scouts attacked Rubeus, trying to give Sailor Mercury the time she needed to hack into the capsule's computer.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" Sailor Mars sent rings of fire racing towards Rubeus. He sent his own pink lights towards them, impacting and destroying them before they even got close.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" Sailor Venus whipped her chain towards the

NegaMoon lord, only to find him not there when it reached its destination. He had teleported behind her and sent his attack before she could turn.

Meanwhile in the capsule, lights and energy were swirling around Reenie. It took Tuxedo Mask a few seconds to figure out what else was happening. He turned to Mercury, who stood next to him. "She's growing!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Mercury responded, shocked out of her preoccupation with her computer. Looking into the capsule, she saw what he meant. What had been a five year old girl now looked almost ten and was still getting older. Mercury went furiously back to her computer. "The more she grows, the more dark energy she can handle. I've got to stop it." She worked silently once more.

"SOLAR FLARE!" Sailor Sol's attack was less than a foot away from Rubeus when he teleported again. He showed up behind Sailor Sol and started his own attack before the boy could turn. However his move had been anticipated, and "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" hit him in the side.

"I've got the growth stopped," Sailor Mercury muttered. By that time, Sailor Sun was there and staring down at her daughter, who was now her own age. Mercury looked up at her. "I'm sorry, I can't clear the dark energy out of her, it's in too deep."

At that moment, the capsule opened and Reenie got out. Her hair was still in the cone shaped buns, instead of ball shaped ones. Her hair was longer, reaching all the way down to her knees in two ponytails. She was dressed in a long black dress, sort of resembling Serenity's Princess dress.

"Reenie! Are you okay?" Sailor Sun asked worriedly.

Reenie looked at the Scout in front of her. "Who are you? And who's Reenie? I am Nega-Princess Serenity," she almost spit that word, reminding her as it did of her awful parents, "of the NegaMoon."

"Reenie? What do you mean, 'of the NegaMoon'?" Sailor Sun and Tuxedo Mask looked at each other as they realized what had happened. "She's been brainwashed." Sailor Sun whispered in despair. She still remembered when it had happened to him. And now her daughter!

The Nega-Princess looked around at the fight going on. When she saw Rubeus get hit, her eyes grew hard. "NEGAMOON ENERGY DESTRUCT!" she called, sending bolts of black energy flying from her hands into the Scouts surrounding Rubeus. They screamed as the energy hit.

"Rubeus, my friend," Nega-Princess Serenity said, "maybe you should leave for now." He nodded and disappeared while the Scouts were still staring at her in shock. She looked at them, "It seems Sailor Moon isn't here. I 'will' have the Silver Imperium Crystal." Her voice was implacable. "You know where Sailor Moon is, tell her to meet me in the park, tomorrow at noon. Or I will destroy Tokyo, one piece at a time." She teleported out of the ship and out of range of Mercury's computer.

"What do we do now?" Sailor Jupiter asked into the silence.

"We try to find a way to unbrainwash her," Sailor Sun answered, "When Sailor Moon meets her tomorrow at noon."

"You can't!" Venus exclaimed. "The way she is now, she doesn't know you, she's not going to have any trouble with fighting you."

"I'm not going to fight her," was the calm answer. "I will not harm my daughter."

"But she doesn't know you!" Venus argued again. "What are you going to do, give her the Crystal?"

"If it's the only thing that works, yes." Sailor Sun was still speaking completely calmly and only Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mercury were close enough to see the anguish in her eyes.

"Don't be stupid, Meatball Brain!" Mars added her argument, "You can't just give her the Crystal! You'll doom the future, and she'll never even have a chance to be born!" hoping that would cause her to think of the consequences.

"Let's continue this argument in more comfortable surroundings." Sailor Sol put in, he didn't like the way the conversation was going either, but could feel the implacability in his sister. He knew she wasn't going to change her mind, and nothing they could do would make her.

The others reluctantly agreed and they teleported back to Travis's mansion. Luna, Artemis, Apollo and Luna Ball were waiting anxiously for their arrival. Luna Ball headed immediately to Serena once she had detransformed and she held it desperately. The others explained everything that had happened.

"Serena," Luna said sharply, "You're not seriously considering letting this Nega-Princess have the Crystal, are you?"

"She is not 'this Nega-Princess'! She is my daughter and I will not have her hurt!" Serena was almost shouting. "If I can use the Crystal to heal her, then I will! If I can't, I don't see that I have much choice."

"We can't let you do that, Serena!" Amy put in, "We can't let you be hurt to save her!"

"Are you saying you don't want me to be your leader anymore?" Serena asked, very, very quietly.

"NO!" Everybody yelled. They were not going to go through that again.

"But because you are our leader, it's our responsibility to protect you." Raye put in reasonably, knowing their usual arguments would not work this time. "And we believe that doing it the way you're planning, would put you at an unacceptable risk." Raye was trying her best to be calm and keep from shouting.

"I think the best thing we can do," Lita said, "is for you to let us attack her and get her strength down to a place where the Crystal will work."

"Absolutely Out Of The Question." Was Serena's instant answer. "I am not going to let you fight her either. I am going to do my best to get her memory back, but I will not let her be hurt. In fact, I don't even see why you need to be there, and I'm sure Amy doesn't want to miss school."

"Serena," Travis said sharply.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Serena said contritely, "I didn't mean that. I'm scared about what's going to happen tomorrow and I'm taking it out on you guys."

The others breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed she was going to be reasonable. Only Travis and Darien knew that she was not going to change her mind. Not about this.

"Look, we do this my way, or I'll find a way to make sure none of you are there and I go alone." Serena's voice was hard once again. "I will not take a chance on her getting hurt. I know that right now she looks my age and has all the powers the Nega Moon gave her. It does not change the fact that she is actually Reenie. You know, the little girl with pink hair and red eyes that came to the past to try to save her mother? The kid that Amy took to the ice cream parlor and Raye tried to help make curry with. You do remember her, don't you?"

"Of course we remember her, Serena," Amy said quietly. "And we want to get her back as much as you do. We just don't believe that your way is the best way."

"Girls," Darien spoke for the first time, "You are not going to change her mind, I can tell you that right now. What we need to do is figure out a way to protect Serena without hurting Reenie."

"I think we all need to be there and ready to fight." Travis said to the others. He turned to Serena, "No, I don't mean ready to fight Reenie, but we have to be aware that she might have droids around to help her and those we can fight."

"All right, you can come" she agreed, "now the question is, how can we all get out of school without raising suspicions. And what do we tell my parents about why Reenie isn't home tonight?"

Luna Ball suddenly floated out of Serena's arms and up to look her in the face. It's eyes started to whirl. She laughed, "So, Luna Ball, you think you can hypnotize my parents again? Even without Reenie?" It bobbed up and down. "Well, that's one problem solved."

"I can call in sick," Lita said. "After all there's no one at home to get a phone call about it."

"I can, as well," Amy said, "No one would question it."

"Not a problem, since Granpa never answers the phone." Raye said, finally resigned to the fact that Serena was not going to change her mind.

"I'm still on vacation, so it's not a problem." Darien added.

"Amy, do you think with Luna Ball's help, you can pretend to be my mother?" Serena asked intently. Luna Ball just bobbed in place.

Amy nodded slowly. It was lying, which Amy hated doing, but if it was the only choice... "I suppose so, what do you want me to say?"

"The truth," Serena answered. "Tell whoever answered that you are my mother," she laughed slightly at Amy's expression, "Okay, that part isn't the truth, but say there is a family emergency and that you have to talk to me. When I get on the phone, say that Reenie has disappeared and you need me and my brother to help search for her. Mina, you're going to have to decide your excuse on your own."

"Gee, thanks," was Mina's response.

The next day went as they had planned, Serena and Travis had little trouble getting out of school to search for her little five year old cousin. Although convincing Miss Haruna that Travis was needed took a little fancy verbal footwork. By a quarter til noon, the six Scouts, Tuxedo Mask and the four others were waiting in the park. It was the first time Sailor Moon had shown up for more than a week, but no one was thinking about that.

The others had been surprised at how well Serena was holding up and takingcontrol. Only Luna knew of the hours she spent crying on her bed, worriedabout her daughter and herself, afraid the others would get hurt becauseof her orders. And Luna would never tell.

At noon exactly, a flash of light showed the entrance of the Nega-Princess Serenity. Sailor Moon stepped forward, "Hello, Small Lady," she said quietly.

"My name is Nega-Princess Serenity," the pink haired one replied.

"No, little one, your name is Neo-Princess Serenity but you're usually called either Reenie or Small Lady." Sailor Moon answered calmly.

"You don't know what you're talking about," the Nega-Princess snapped. "Now hand over the Crystal."

"No," was the reply, "Only the pure of heart may use the Crystal. Let the dark energy go and I will give it to you."

"You want me to let the dark energy go? No problem," she laughed, "Here, I'll give some to you. NEGAMOON ENERGY DESTRUCT!" The black energy lanced toward the unmoving Scout.

"Sailor Moon!" the others screamed as it impacted and threw her backwards. The Nega-Princess felt a twinge deep inside over what she did, but not understanding why, paid no attention. She looked at the Scouts as they ran forward, Tuxedo Mask in the lead. "NEGAMOON DARKNESS DEMOLISH!" she called, sending a large wave towards the Scouts. They hit the wave with everything they had and barely managed to stop it from hitting them.

By this time, Sailor Moon was back on her feet and moving towards the pink haired version of herself. Before the NegaMoon lackey could react, she found herself enfolded in Sailor Moon's arms.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled, trying to break the grip. At first she had thought it was an attack, but the Scout just stood there with her arms wrapped around her and her head buried in her chest. Sailor Moon looked up and tears were rolling down her face. "Oh, Reenie, why don't you remember me? I love you and I want you to come back to me," she sobbed.

The Nega-Princess pushed her away. "All you are is the enemy." She said sharply, not going to admit to anyone that she had actually felt warm and loved for a minute. "It's going to come down 

to a fight between us, and I don't want them interfering," she said, her eyes going to the Scouts who looked about to attack. "NEGAMOON CAGE!" Lights gathered above the Scouts and then expanded downwards, imprisoning each in their own individual cage. Tuxedo Mask had responded instantly to the light above him and tried to dive out of the way, but the cage was faster and he was caught as surely as the others. The guardians were not caught, but could not ignore Sailor Moon's instructions about not harming Reenie, and didn't see how else they could help.

"Now it's your turn, Sailor Moon," the Nega-Princess hissed. "Are you ready to fight me?"

"No," she said, "I will not fight you, I will however, heal you. MOON CRYSTAL HEALING ACTIVATION!" she called, pulling out the crystal and pouring its energy into her daughter. "Remember, Reenie! Remember happiness and love, rememeber me and Serena, Tuxedo Mask and Darien. Remember your parents and your uncle. Remember love, Reenie. Remember, and let the Crystal heal you."

"Love is an illusion. It's certainly not something I ever got from my parents." was the only response to the torrent of power and words coming at her. Looking at the pleading face of the Scout in front of her, for a short time, she 'did' want to give in, then she shook off that thought. "Now fight me!" she snarled. "NEGAMOON ENERGY DESTRUCT!" The black energy raced towards Sailor Moon. Once more she stood there and let it hit her. The Scouts yelled as she got thrown backwards. However, the blast was lower powered than the ones she had been hit with before and she got up quickly.

"Why won't you fight me?" Nega-Princess Serenity yelled.

"Because I love you and won't hurt you," was the quiet response.

"You're probably just trying to trick me," the pink haired one mused out loud.

"Is that what you really think?" Sailor Moon asked. The Scouts looked on in horror and disbelief from their cages as Sailor Moon detransformed into Serena. The fourteen year old looked helpless and totally defenseless from where she stood in front of the black dressed girl. "I cannot attack you like this," she said.

The Nega-Princess was also in shock from that daring move and barely realized when the human girl walked forward and hugged her once more. "I love you, my daughter," she said, looking into the other's red eyes. "I will not hurt you, and I do not believe you will hurt me either. You are my daughter and you love me too. I know you do. The black crystal may have changed your mind, but it cannot change your heart. Listen to your heart, little one. Listen to your heart and to me, Small Lady. Come back to me, to us. Please, Reenie. We love you and we want you back."

"If you really loved me, you would give me the Crystal," was the response. Although her voice was steady, her mind and heart were not. For some reason, she could not force herself to hurt this strange, and yet strangly familiar, girl. She couldn't even make herself push the blond away, instead standing there quietly in her arms.

Serena pulled out her brooch and looked at it. The sight of the brooch reminded the other what she was here for and she was able to ignore the weird feelings being aroused in her. "Thanks!" she said, taking the brooch and pushing Serena away. She had not meant to push her very hard, but the brooch took up all her attention. She looked up in disgust when the shouts of the Scouts became too loud to ignore. They were yelling "Serena!" She looked over to where they were staring, and stared as well. The blond haired girl was lying there, completely still. Her ungentle push had sent the other girl straight into a tree, knocking her unconcious.

"I didn't mean to do that!" she gasped, running over. She turned Serena over and stared in disbelief at the blood pouring from the cut where her head had hit the tree. Her heart was filled with remorse over the injury that she had caused. She knew the girl was supposed to be the enemy and to be treated with contempt, but she also felt very bad about the pain she had caused. She never noticed the Crystal in her other hand start glowing once more. Little by little its healing energy sought out the damage the black crystal had done, starting with the easiest, the blockage that had not been completed because of Tuxedo Mask's rose. Her eyes went wide as memories of this girl and of love invaded her very being. She was so busy trying to sort those out, that she barely noticed the teleportation beam that transported her, and everything she was carrying, back up to the spaceship.

"Congratulations, Princess," Rubeus said smarmily. "Not only did you get the Crystal, but the Neo-Queen as well. You are to be commended. Now hand them over, so we can get to work on them properly."

"'Work on them'?" she asked. "What are you going to do to her?"

"Why take her to the future of course." He answered confidently. "With her in our hands, Crystal Tokyo will be ours within hours. All we will have to do is torture her for a small while, and King Endymion will give in to our every demand to keep her from getting more pain. Not that his giving in will stop us of course. There are a lot of frustrations we can work out on her body."

"NO! I will not let you harm her!" the Nega-Princess almost snarled. The healing energy started to work faster as her emotions became clearer. "She protected me, now I'll protect her. How could I have ever listened to you? How could I actually believe that you would take care of me? If threatening King Endymion with her doesn't work, how long would it be until you tried the same thing with me?"

"Silly girl. You will not let? You don't have the power to forbid me anything. Everything you have, I gave you. I can just as easily take it away." Rubeus laughed evilly at the thought of the Rabbit trying to fight him, who was so obviously a wolf.

The Rabbit didn't seem to see it that way. "I don't really care if you do or not. I have the feeling I would be better off without it."

Rubeus turned and looked out of one of his magical windows, "Is that truly what you think?" he asked in a musing tone. Before she could react, he turned and attacked her. She screamed as the power went through her. Her abrupt weakening was all that the Crystal needed. She screamed 

even louder as the white healing energy battled the dark energy she had been infused with. Her crescent moon flashed with the black crescent moon, her size alternated between fourteen and five and anything inbetween. After almost five minutes of this display, the Crystal finally won. Reenie collapsed sobbing next to her mother.

"So, you've got all your memories back, huh Rabbit?" Rubeus laughed, "Your memories of how you turned on your friends and hurt your mother. Do you really think they'll ever forgive you for that? For hurting their princess? It's all your fault, you know. She's lying there almost dead, because of you. She'll never be able to love you again. It would almost be worth letting the two of you live, knowing that she would never again be able to love or trust you because you turned on her once and might do it again."

"You're wrong!" Reenie yelled, neither noticing that Serena's eyes were now open and tears were dropping down her cheek as she saw her daughter back the way she should be. Then she heard Reenie's words. "She'd understand. She'd never turn on someone because of something that wasn't their fault. You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong." She stomped her foot at each repetition.

"She's right," Serena said in a weak voice as she sat up slowly. "I would never stop loving someone for something like that, especially not Reenie."

"Serena?" Reenie said in relief and delight, as she threw herself at the woozy girl. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! Really I didn't!" Reenie started sobbing again as she felt Serena hug her gently.

"I know you didn't, Reenie, I know it wasn't your fault." Serena said, looking down into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, "Are you okay? You were out for a long time!" Reenie looked up at the cut on her forehead, "Can you ever forgive me?"she said in a small voice.

"There's nothing to forgive, little one. You were brainwashed, there wasnothing you could have done to stop it. Don't blame yourself. If anyoneis to blame, it would be me." Reenie looked up at her in shock. "I shouldhave protected you better. It's my fault you got captured."

"That's silly! You couldn't have stopped him, it's not your fault!" Reenie listened to her own words and grinned up at her mother, "It wasn'tyour fault and it wasn't my fault, so it must be 'his' fault!" she crowed.

Serena kissed her forehead and held her closer as she rocked the little girl. Both of them needed the closeness, needed the physical reminder that everything was okay. Reenie looked up when she felt something wet hit the top of her head. Serena was crying, sobbing actually and Reenie started to cry too, when she saw the anguish she had put her through.

"I hate to break up this oh so touching scene, but I think it's time that we went back to what I want." Rubues said cuttingly.

Within seconds Serena and Reenie were on their feet. "You're not touching her!" they both said at the same time.

"Isn't that cute? They're trying to protect each other. Too bad its not going to do either of you any good." His laughter was cut short by the entrance of ten very angry and worried figures. The worry decreased by a large amount as they saw Serena and Reenie standing next to each other, but the anger grew as they saw the cut on Serena's forehead and the tears on both girls' faces.

"SOLAR FLARE!" Sailor Sol attacked first, his rage high at the sight of his sister and niece.

Sailor Mars wasn't far behind, sending "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" to all sides of Sailor Sol, protecting him from Rubeus teleporting behind him. Instead, Rubeus teleported behind Sailor Mercury, but Jupiter was ready for him. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" just barely missed him as he teleported away. By this time, the Scouts had learned to have someone watching all locations. He was hit by several roses almost as soon as he appeared. He tried to appear behind the two unprotected girls, only to be attacked by something large, flying and with very sharp talons.

"Way to go, Apollo!" Luna and Artemis yelled, annoyed at their own inability to get into the fight.

Reenie glared at Rubeus. "I wish I could help you beat him. I hate having to stay out of the way."

Serena stared at Rubeus, then looked at Reenie. "Alright," she said abruptly. "If it's what you really want you can help me defeat him. But be careful, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Reenie asked, confused.

"You are the Princess of the Moon, aren't you?" Serena asked smiling.

"Of course I am. I'm your daughter." Reenie replied. "I am still your daughter, aren't I?" she asked very quietly. Obviously it wasn't quiet enough, because Serena heard.

"You will always be my daughter. Don't blame yourself for what happened, little one. It wasn't your fault. I promise you, it was not your fault."

Reenie reached up towards the cut on Serena's forehead. "I wish I could make it go away." she sighed.

"Don't." When Reenie looked at her in surprise, she continued, "Don't wish your life away, I did that once. It was the worst mistake I ever made because I lost the people I loved the most. Learn from it and don't let yourself ever believe that I don't love you. There is nothing you can do to make me stop. Nothing Reenie. And you want to know a secret?" she asked smiling.

"What?" Reenie asked breathlessly.

"I would love you even if you weren't my daughter, just because you are you. And 'you' are loveable." Serena smiled down at the little girl who was looking a lot happier. "Now back to what I was saying, if you're my daughter, then you should be able to Duo with me. If you want to."

"I can become Sailor Moon? Yes, yes, yes!" she shouted.

"A real mother-daughter bonding experience, huh?" Sailor Venus called from where the Scouts were battling Rubeus.

"If you're going to do something, I wish you'd hurry." Mars grunted as she threw herself out of the way of an attack.

"You know what to do, Small Lady?" Serena asked as she kneeled down and held her transformation brooch in one hand.

Reenie nodded furiously even as she reached out to touch the brooch. However, for a moment, her mind was on something else, She called me Small Lady again, I guess she really does forgive me. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER DUO!" they called. Everything stopped as the Scouts and even Rubeus turned to watch the transformation. Ribbons and feathers surrounded the two and then there were two Sailor Moons standing there. The little girl was wearing a white shirt and blue skirt just like her mother, she even had the red stones in her hair. But her bows and boots were the exact same color pink as her hair.

Sailor Moon started her speech. "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice! For daring to harm my daughter, I will Punish you!"

The other Sailor Moon's pose exactly mirrored her mother's. "I am Sailor... um...uh..." she whispered to her mother, "What should I call myself?"

"I don't know. How about Little Moon?"

"Sailor Little Moon? Nah. I know!" she posed again. "I am Sailor Crescent Moon, Champion of Justice! For daring to try to make me hate my parents, I will Punish you!"

"Back off everyone, this is a family matter." Sailor Moon said as she and Crescent Moon stood in front of Rubeus.

"Do you think I'm afraid of you?" Rubeus said confidently.

"You should be," was Sailor Moon's response.

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she cried, throwing her tiara at him. He moved to one side, sneering.

"CRESCENT MOON TIARA MAGIC!" Crescent Moon called, throwing her own at him. He stepped to one side of that one, just in time to get caught in the back by Sailor Moon's returning tiara. He never even saw the second one that hit him in the side.

As he cried out in pain, Sailor Moon pulled out her scepter. "I wanted to make you pay for every instant of pain you put her through, but I'm not going to set that bad an example for her."

"CRESCENT MOONBEAM STRIKE!" Crescent Moon cried. Her regular moonbeam came into existance around her and she raised her hand into the power, pulling it into her fist and sending it towards Rubeus in a bright white stream, surrounded by little crescent moons. He screamed as the power hit him, but not for long.

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!" Sailor Moon called. Within seconds, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the man who had plagued them for months was turned into moondust.

"YYEEAAHH!!" Sailor Crescent Moon yelled. "We beat him. We beat him." she calmed down a little. "Thank you for letting me fight."

"You deserved it, Reenie." she said, "and I'm very proud of how well you did. But I don't think your father is very happy." Tuxedo Mask was bearing down on them and he certainly did not look happy.

"Sailor Moon, how could you be so irresponsible as to let her fight? She might have gotten hurt."

"Don't worry, Daddy. I'm fine." Crescent Moon said, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly. "And I really, really needed to do that. Please don't be mad at us. Please?"

"Good job, Crescent Moon," Sailor Sol said from where he was standing watching. As Tuxedo Mask turned towards him he continued, "Stop being so overprotective. She can't fight on her own, only when one of us Duos with her and you know very well that we would all die for her. If a situation was bad enough that something could get through us to get to her, I, for one, would rather she had a way to protect herself."

Tuxedo Mask calmed down as he thought of Sailor Sol's words and nodded reluctant agreement.

Sailor Crescent Moon was thinking of something else. "You mean I could Duo with any of you?" she asked excitedly.

Sailor Sol was about to answer when Sailor Mercury's voice came to them.

"We've got trouble."

"Now what?" Sailor Moon asked tiredly. "I really just want to go home and go to bed."

"Well we might be getting home a lot sooner than expected, but we wouldn't enjoy it much." Mercury announced. "The ship is falling and I can't getcontrol!"

"Let's teleport." Sailor Jupiter said immediately.

"I don't think we have time," Sailor Mercury said quietly. Everyone looked at her in shock. They looked out the window to see the ocean rushing towards them. Tuxedo Mask grabbed Sailor Moon to him and the three stood together, holding on to one another. Then another joined them.

Luna Ball had stayed out of the fight, with the cats, and was now hitting Reenie lightly on the chest. Crescent Moon looked down to see what it was doing and caught a glimpse of crystal. Quickly pulling it out, she held it up in the air. "Crystal Time Key! Take us to the Future!"

--

Did the Scouts get to the future? Or did the Time Key misfire again and they all hit the water and they died? Do you even have to ask? Stand by for Chapter Eleven: Cracked Crystal.

_To Be Continued_


	11. Cracked Crystal

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

--

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**Chapter Eleven:** Cracked Crystal

One moment the Scouts were staring into an ocean rushing ever closer, the next moment they were standing on a shadowed plain. Rolling fog quickly cut the Scouts off from one another until Sailor Moon, Sailor Crescent Moon, and Tuxedo Mask were standing alone. Then Crescent Moon pulled away.

"Come on," she yelled, "Puu will be waiting for me." Without waiting she started running into the fog.

"Reenie! Wait!" Sailor Moon yelled, running after her, and before Tuxedo Mask could react, she, too, was lost in the fog.

Sailor Moon ran on, calling for Reenie and the other Scouts. Finally she stopped, panting from the run. She saw a light in front of her and walked slowly towards it, trying to get her breath back.

"Halt!" a slightly familiar voice challenged from an indistinct shape near the light. "Who dares to come near the Gateway of Time?"

Sailor Moon stopped and glanced around, hoping some of the other Scouts were nearby. Seeing no one to help, she drew herself up and walked forward warily. "I am Sailor Moon, Champion of Love and Justice. In the name of the Moon, I will Right Wrongs and Triumph over..."

By this time she had gotten close enough to see the other person. It was a young woman with long green hair, clad in a Sailor Suit, and holding a long staff shaped like a giant key. Sailor Moon stopped her speech as the new Sailor came closer. "Are you Sailor Pluto?" she asked excitedly.

"I am the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto. Why are you here, and how did you get here?" her voice was still hard and challenging.

"Reenie brought us. Have you seen her?" Her question was answered almost immediately as Crescent Moon came running through the fog with Luna Ball bouncing behind.

"Puu!" she cried, throwing herself into the older Scout's arms. She calmed down and turned to Sailor Moon. "Puu, this is Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon, this is Sailor Pluto." She suddenly looked worried. "I know you said that I was the only one to use the Crystal Time Key, but they would have died if I didn't and besides, she's the only one that can help my mother. I'm sorry I disobeyed you." She looked as if she expected Sailor Pluto to yell at her.

Sailor Pluto kneeled next to her. "You did the right thing, Small Lady. You've learned how to use the Key correctly. I'm very proud of you." She looked her over closer, "And what is this? A Sailor Scout?" she asked teasingly.

"Yep," Reenie said proudly. "I am Sailor Crescent Moon! Champion of Justice. Do you like it?"

"I do indeed, and I'm sure your mother will be very proud of you, too," Pluto replied.

Sailor Moon looked as if she was about to say something when they heard a noise and turned. Coming towards them were Sailor Venus and Mars. In the flurry of introductions, Sailor Moon forgot what she was going to say. Reenie started telling Pluto about everything that happened while she was in the past as the other Scouts and Tuxedo Mask found their way to the Gate.

Sailor Moon listened to Crescent Moon's account and a frown found its way into her eyes. Tuxedo Mask noticed and leaned towards her. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Huh?" she asked, startled. "Oh, it's nothing."

He didn't believe her, but looking into her eyes, he saw that she didn't plan on saying anything else.

"Is everyone here?" Sailor Pluto suddenly asked. As they looked around and counted heads, she continued, "The Sailor Scouts have a shield around the Palace. That means that I cannot open a gate straight into it. The closest safe spot to gate to is almost a mile from the palace. And the entire city is under siege. You will more than likely have to fight your way through the city. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"How can we get through the shield?" Sailor Venus asked.

"In effect, you' set it up, so you will have no trouble getting through. And since it was set up to protect the Kings, Queen, and Princess, they should have no trouble either," Pluto answered easily.

"Getting in is not going to be the problem, getting to it is going to be the problem."

"We'll manage," Sailor Mars said confidently.

"Yeah, nothing can beat us," Sailor Jupiter agreed.

"We're going," Sailor Moon said.

"All right. I'll be there when you need me," Sailor Pluto said, even as she turned towards the gate. After a moment of concentration, the gate opened wide. "Go through quickly, I cannot hold it for long."

One by one the Scouts warily step through the gateway, Luna, Artemis, and Apollo riding their Scouts' shoulders, Crescent Moon stopping to hug Pluto one more time. On the other side of the Gate, they stopped and stared. It was obvious at once why the city was called Crystal Tokyo.

It looked as if the entire city had been grown as a large crystal cluster. A crystal that had been broken. Many of the structures were in rubble, or broken in some way. Crescent Moon looked as if she were going to cry. This was not the way her city looked. Then Jupiter gasped.

As everyone looked at her, she pointed upward. The sky was covered with ships. As they watched, one ship dived toward the city and started firing, destroying more of the buildings.

Another ship raced towards a spire that rose above the rest of the city. Crescent Moon pointed to it. "That's the palace. That's where my mommy and daddy live." The ship got closer and closer to the palace. Suddenly it seemed to hit an unseen wall and exploded.

"And we've got to get there?" Venus asked in a small voice. "Through that?"

"Well, we're not getting there this way," Sailor Mars suddenly said, "Come on, let's get going."

"Stay together everyone," Sailor Moon said, moving to one side of Sailor Crescent Moon as they started out. They stopped when they noticed Tuxedo Mask wasn't with them. They turned back to see him still staring at the Palace. "What's wrong?" Sailor Moon asked, concerned.

"Those first couple of days, every time I held Reenie, I got a picture of that place in my mind," he said quietly, still looking up at it. "I had wondered what it meant." He shook his head and moved to catch up to the others.

They walked quickly through the empty streets, trying to stay under cover where possible. Their eyes stayed above them on the ships they were worried about. So no one saw the droid before they almost ran into it.

Of course, even if they had been watching, they might have missed it. It was made entirely of crystal, or so it seemed. Sitting quietly, it blended into the heaps of crystal all around them. The first hint they had of its presence was when it threw a large piece of crystal at them. Tuxedo Mask saw it in time to throw the two Moons out of its way. Slivers of crystal imbedded in his cape, but all three of them were unharmed.

Sailor Mercury, with the help of her visor, was the first to spot the droid. "Over there!" she pointed and the others were able to make it out.

Sailor Moon stood up. "I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Love and Justice! For helping to destroy this beau..." That was as far as she got, before Sailor Sol tackled her out of the way of another crystal projectile.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Speeches just give them time to attack!" he growled as he got up.

Sailor Jupiter wasn't waiting. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" she called, throwing her lightning before Mercury could stop her. Everyone dived to the ground as it hit the crystal and reflected back towards the Scouts. "Oh, come on, not again! Why do all the new droids seem to be invulnerable to lightning? I want to pound something!" Jupiter yelled in disgust.

"Calm down, Jupiter, you're being way too uptight," Venus said, and tried to hide a grin when, "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" broke part of the droid's crystal arm.

"Yeah, Jupiter, I'm sure we can find a nice easy droid for you to fight. Maybe if we find one weak enough you can actually do some damage." Mars grinned as she spoke, while Jupiter's face just got darker and she glared at the other Scout.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" Mars called out. Once again everyone had to dive out of the way of a reflected attack. "No way!" she said. Sailor Jupiter and the two Moons burst out laughing at the disbelief on her face.

"I guess we need to find you a nice weak droid too," Jupiter said while laughing, "You seem to be having some trouble with the regular ones."

"Girls, girls? Could we get on with the fight please? Sailor Moon, Sailor Crescent Moon, if you would please?" Sailor Sol said with a sigh as Mars geared up for a major argument.

"Oh, all right," the two said in exactly the same tone of voice. Tuxedo Mask pulled out a handful of roses as Sailor Sol pulled out his sword.

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" "CRESCENT MOON TIARA MAGIC!" The two disks flew towards the droid, followed by almost a dozen roses and the male Scout with a sword in his hands. Within seconds the droid was covered in cracks and looked about ready to fall apart.

"Jupiter, Mars, do you want to do the honors?" Sailor Sol said with a grin.

The two Scouts looked at each other and nodded. They ran at the almost totally destroyed droid and together kicked him, one to the head, the other to the chest. The droid fell into crystal dust. Jupiter and Mars looked a lot happier afterwards.

"Nice going, Sol," Tuxedo Mask whispered to him, "We almost had a bad argument there."

"I was more worried about a cat fight," he whispered back with a grin. "OOWW!!" he suddenly yelled. As everyone gathered around him in concern, he glared down at the black cat nonchalantly cleaning her paws.

"What did you do that for?" he demanded angrily.

"You should pay more attention to who is around when you make comments like that," Luna replied serenely. Sailor Moon and Crescent Moon thought that was hilarious.

Sailor Sol just glared at her before sighing. "Well, shall we go?" he asked grumpily.

Everyone agreed. Most of them even managed to keep their faces straight.

This time they kept their eyes on the ground as well as the skies, but managed to reach the force wall without further problems.

The Scouts stood looking at the invisible wall surrounding the palace. Not that they could see' the wall, but the wreckage of spaceships made the wall's location obvious. They looked at each other, a common thought going through everyone's mind, Who's going to risk it first?

Sailor Crescent Moon grew impatient and started walking forward. Sailor Moon ran after her and as the others watched, the two girls stepped through the barrier as if it wasn't there. Shrugging at one another, the other Scouts and Tuxedo Mask followed after easily.

"I guess Pluto was right," Venus said in a hushed voice while staring at the imposing building they were walking up to.

"Of course she was right," Crescent Moon snapped.

"Be nice, Reenie," Sailor Moon murmured.

"Oh, all right Serena," she grumbled, her eyes searching for something, or someone.

Then she saw him. "Daddy!" she yelled running towards a tall man, dressed as a white and lavender version of Tuxedo Mask, without the mask or cape and carrying a sword instead of a cane.

"Small Lady!" he cried, sweeping her up into his arms and hugging her as if he was never going to let her go. "I've been so worried about you. You shouldn't have left without telling anyone." The Scouts stayed back to give them time alone. There were tears in everyone's eyes at the reunion.

"Oh, Daddy, I've missed you so much!" she sobbed. "I was so scared at first, and I just wanted to come home and come back to you and Mommy." The older man just held her and let her babble, seemingly content to just hold her.

"I thought you'd be mad at me, Daddy," Reenie said looking up at her father.

"I will be once I get over being happy that you've returned," he murmured to her as he hugged her again.

Finally, he let her pull away slightly and looked at the uniform she was wearing. "I always did like your mother in that," he laughed huskily, his eyes shining. Still carrying her, he walked forward.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome to Crystal Tokyo. I, as you might have guessed, am King Endymion." On closer examination, it was obvious that he was Darien, the kind blue eyes were exactly the same, but they were set into an older and more mature face. Still, he could not have been older that the late twenties.

"Your Majesty?" Mercury broke in, "How far into the future are we?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, almost a thousand years," King Endymion replied calmly.

"What?" everybody screeched. Even Reenie seemed surprised at the number.

"That's not possible!" Jupiter exclaimed.

"No way!" Venus agreed.

"Your Majesty, are you sure?" Sailor Sol asked.

"I'm positive, Travis, and please, don't call me Your Majesty'. You've known me far too long for that." Endymion turned to the others. "That goes for all of you. Regardless, of how much time has passed or what has happened, we are you. Don't be scared of how much we've changed, it's just time catching up with us."

"So you know what's going to happen?" Sailor Moon asked, relieved. She had been worried that no one knew what was going on, but since they had already lived it, it would be okay.

"No, I'm afraid not," Endymion said sadly. "We're not allowed to know much about the future and something blocks us from knowing. Pluto says that she's not doing it, but I'm sure she knows what is. I don't know about the others, but all I remember about what happened in your time period is what has no relation to the future or has already happened to you. I know nothing about what is going to happen here and now until it does. It's almost like you, Darien, are making my memories as you go. Look, we can finish this inside, but if you would do me a favor? If the people thought the barrier was down they would start to panic, and since the Scouts are powering the shield... can you?"

"Not a prob," Venus said, detransforming.

The others quickly followed, even Crescent Moon changing back into Reenie.

"I hope you're going to explain everything eventually," Serena said plaintively.

"I will, I promise. Just as soon as we get somewhere private," Endymion agreed, leading them inside.

--

If the outside of the palace was impressive, the inside was stunning. Marble tiled floor, covered in the middle with a red runner of carpet, was flanked by columns reminiscent of ancient Greece, or the Kingdom of the Moon. A mosaic covered the left wall of the room, but the Scouts couldn't get more than a glimpse of it. Reenie was chattering away in her fathers arms as he led them through doorways and up stairs. Serena was not the only one panting when they finally stopped.

This room was more informal, although no less impressive than the others they had passed through. It was also occupied. This was no surprise, since they had passed many people on their way to this room. The surprise was that they recognized four of the five occupants.

One of them was a young man in his early twenties, dressed in a white and gold version of Endymion's clothes but with two swords. Even with the age difference, he was obviously Tranquillity. Travis walked right up to him and looked him over narrowly, before he grinned and turned back to the others. "I grew up well, don't you think?"

Everyone laughed and one of the others spoke up. "Thank you," he said in his deep voice, "I consider that a compliment to me, since I practically raised you."

"Apollo!" Travis and Tranquillity said in the exact same tone of voice. A tone of voice Serena and Mina recognized, having used it many times on the cats on their shoulders and the white and black cats curled up in one of the white chairs.

Reenie wiggled down from her father's arms and picked up the third cat. A kitten really, she was small, smoke gray, and had a small crescent moon on her forehead. "Diana," she chirped.

"Reenie, I've missed you," Diana purred, nuzzling Reenie on the cheek and neck. Reenie giggled.

"I've missed you too, Diana," the little girl said fondly.

Artemis and Luna sat up on their charges shoulders, their heads going from left to right as they stared at the kitten, then its parents and then each other. Artemis slowly blushed, his white fur turning pink. Luna's black fur hiding the fact that she was blushing furiously as well. The other black and white cats smiled in sympathy. After all, they knew how they felt.

"And what about me?" Tranquillity asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"I've missed you too, Uncle Tranq," Reenie said, giving him a hug.

"We were worried about you, little one," he whispered as he hugged her. "Please don't scare us like that again, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry everyone," she whispered back with downcast eyes.

"Please sit down everyone, and we'll try to explain what's going on," Endymion asked, although it sounded more like a command. Everyone found a seat, Reenie clambering back up into Endymion's lap. Mina picked up Artemis and handed Luna to Serena as she took their seat. The two Lunas and Artemis's looked at each other as they settled next to each other in the girls' laps.

"I can't tell you everything, of course, or even most things. Sailor Pluto was very strict about how much of your future you're allowed to know. I can't tell you why it's been a thousand years or how Crystal Tokyo came to be. It also doesn't really matter when it comes to what has happened."

"I have one question first," Serena said, petting the two Lunas absentmindedly. "Where is Serenity? Shouldn't she be here, or is she helping the Scouts with the shield?"

As she watched, Endymion's face darkened with pain, but all he said was, "All in good time." He drew in a deep breath. "It all started about six months ago. Up until then we had been a relatively peaceful city, protected by the Scouts and our own magic. Perhaps we became a little overconfident of our ability to protect ourselves. When the people of the NegaMoon attacked, we had no warning and no chance to prepare. The Ou..." he stopped for a moment, and gathering his thoughts. "The Scouts and Royal Guard fought as hard as they could, and we were holding them off, even, occasionally, winning. When King Tranquillity brought his own kingdom's troops and came to our aid, we thought that we had won. After all, nothing could withstand the combined might of our kingdoms." He stopped, looking into the past.

Reenie looked as if she was doing the same thing. Even at her young age, she could remember how worried her parents had been and then the cheers when Uncle Tranq came. She also remembered what happened next and almost cringed as she waited for her father to continue.

Most of the others looked tense as well. Although they didn't know what had happened, they knew it must be bad if Reenie, who was so obviously loved, was sent into the past alone. Travis and Darien were tense for another reason as well, sitting almost side by side with themselves was a very unnerving experience, although Luna, Artemis, and Apollo didn't seem to be having any trouble, the cats curled up next to each other as they were. Serena and Mina also didn't seem to feel anything was wrong as they automatically petted the cats in their laps without paying attention to which was which.

"Then one day, the Silver Moon Crystal disappeared," Endymion began suddenly. He looked up at their gasps of disbelief. "We have no idea how anyone managed to get in to steal it, or even how they could steal it, because it usually defends itself. It just disappeared. With it went a lot of our defense, and the heart of our troops. Although the Earth Gem and Sun Stone could pick up a lot of the slack, they couldn't do everything. That was when we decided to send someone back into the past to try to borrow the Crystal."

"But why Reenie?" Serena broke in. "I mean if she hadn't found us, she would have been in even worse danger than she was."

"It was not' supposed to be Reenie," Endymion said quietly. "Serenity had decided to go, being the one most likely to be able to talk you into lending her your Crystal for a while." His tone of voice suggested that he had not been too happy with the idea, and a quick glance at Tranquillity showed that he hadn't liked it either.

"So, what happened?" Mina said impatiently.

"It was the day before she had planned to leave. She stood outside on the balcony of our room," Endymion took a deep breath, "I heard a scream and ran outside, and she was... she was..."

"She's not dead, is she?" Darien asked intently, his arm around Serena as if to keep her from the fate of her future self.

"No," Tranquillity said, "Not dead. She is enchanted, locked within a crystal that we cannot break. Mercury says that she is alive, but nothing we can do can break her out of the prison she is in."

Serena shuddered and huddled next to Darien as he hugged her even tighter. Travis got up from where he was sitting and moved to the floor by her feet, placing his head on her knee. It was as if the two had a sudden urge to reassure themselves that Serena was alive and well.

"The next day we found out that Reenie was gone. We panicked, sure that the NegaMoon had managed to capture her, until Pluto explained that she had taken her mother's Time Key and taken over the quest to get the Crystal. Suffice to say, we were very' annoyed with Pluto for letting her go. Pluto just said it was necessary." He turned Reenie around in his lap. "Now, Small Lady," he said severely, "Why, exactly, did you go to the past?"

"Mommy told me to," Reenie answered immediately. At her father's and uncle's disbelieving look, she continued, "She came to me that night, and it wasn't' a dream," she said to the question that was going to be asked. "She was there! She told me only I could get the Crystal and only the Crystal could free her and she gave me the Time Key and told me how to use it. So I did, and Puu told me to go live with the girl who I first met, and everything would work out. And if I was ever lonely, I could still use Luna Ball to talk to her," Reenie said all of that in a rush, explaining quite a bit to everyone.

"So that's why her voice sounded familiar," Serena muttered to herself before shaking herself back to attention.

"Well," Travis said, "If the Crystal is the only thing that can save her, then why don't we go see if it will?" He stood up and held out a wrist for Apollo, Tranquillity was just a step behind in doing exactly the same thing. Amy picked up one of the Lunas on Serena's lap and Lita picked up one of the Artemis's. In a matter of seconds everyone except Endymion were on their feet. He just sat there.

Darien spoke up, "It might not work, but we have a chance. Let us try."

Endymion nodded slowly. He knew that Darien understood why he was hesitant. As long as they didn't know what would happen, he had hope, but if they tried and failed, there was nothing else that could be done. He got up and took Reenie's hand. He led them through another door into a room that seemed designed as a backdrop for the large crystal floating in the middle.

"Mommy!" Reenie cried out softly running up and placing her hand on the crystal. "Mommy, I brought Sailor Moon. She can free you, I know she can. I did just like you said and I brought the Crystal and now everything will be alright." She laid her head against the crystal prison and tears ran down her face onto the crystal. "You'll be okay, Mommy, I promise."

Serena and the Scouts walked up and stared at the beautiful woman suspended in the middle of the crystal. Serena gasped as she stared at her future form. Even more than Travis, she had matured. The crescent moon glowed on her forehead, above her closed eyes. She was tall and...

regal was the only description Serena could think of. Her face showed a wisdom and maturity never seen on Serena's own. Still, she looked familiar, a combination of herself and her first mother, Queen Serenity. Her gown was pure white and silver, with no sleeves and... were those wings? Or just a very large bow? It was impossible to tell through the crystal. A silver and pearl tiara sat perched on the top of her hair.

As Serena stared at her counterpart, the others noticed something unusual. Serenity's crescent moon was glowing more brightly, matched by the crescent moon that had appeared on Serena's brow. Serena seemed to have forgotten everything and everyone else as she looked at Neo-Queen Serenity. Her hand went up to her brooch and opened it. Everyone gasped as they noticed the Moon Crystal glowing as brightly as the two moon symbols. The Crystal floated into Serena's hand without any prompting on her part. Reenie stepped back as she saw Serena's body begin to glow. The two crescent moons and the Moon Crystal pulsated and light flared.

As Reenie and Travis watched in disbelief, the others looked on in wonder. They knew what was about to happen and would never get tired of watching it. Serena's eyes went totally blue. Her school uniform changed into a blazingly white gown with gold accents. Her hair grew longer and was held back by pearl barrettes. Within seconds, Princess Serenity looked at Neo-Queen Serenity. The Moon Crystal floated before her and she turned her attention to it, pouring power through it and into the crystal surrounding her future form. A beam of light came from her moon symbol, matched by one coming from the Neo-Queen's and centered on the Silver Moon Crystal. The light got brighter and brighter.

CRACK! echoed through the room. A ringing followed, growing louder and louder and followed by an even louder CRASH! Everyone had instinctively ducked and now looked up and took their hands off of their ears. The crystal that had surrounded Neo-Queen Serenity was in pieces on the floor and she was kneeling among them, holding a crying Reenie. Serena had reverted back and collapsed where she had stood. Darien and Endymion ran forward and swept their respective loves up into their arms.

Reenie was just sobbing, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" over and over. Darien pulled out a handkerchief, and used it to gently wipe the tears that were running down Serena's face at the sight of the reunion in front of her. Travis' handkerchief was already being used by the other girls. One Luna had run up to join the happy family and was acting like a kitten as she tried to nuzzle under Serenity's arm. The other Luna was busy asking Serena if she was alright.

Serenity was trying to reassure everyone at once. Still holding her daughter in a hug with one arm, the other hand was petting a worried Luna and she was gently kissing her husband. For a long moment the reunited family seemed to forget anyone else was there.

"Oh, Mommy, I was so worried, but I did just what you and Puu said, and it worked and you're okay." Reenie was babbling, but it didn't seem to matter.

"Yes, sweetheart," Serenity answered gently, "You did just right. I am so proud of you, my darling daughter, so very proud. I know how brave you were to go into the past without knowing anyone. No one could have a better daughter. I love you so much, Small Lady."

"I love you too, Mommy, and I've missed you so much." Reenie was still crying, but the tears had gentled as her mother's warm voice and arms helped convince her it was real.

Travis tapped Darien and Serena on the shoulder and pointed towards the door when they looked up. They nodded and rose silently to their feet, Serena leaning heavily on Darien as they tiptoed out of the chamber and left the family alone.

"That was so sweet," Mina sighed, hugging Artemis until he almost suffocated.

"This seems to be the day for tearful reunions, doesn't it?" Raye had meant to say it sarcastically, but it didn't come out that way. Her voice was gentle with remembrance.

Serena was almost asleep next to Darien, but tears were still falling down her cheeks. Amy hurried over to check on her when she saw her condition. "Serena! Are you all right?"

"She's fine," a gentle voice spoke from behind them. They turned to see Neo-Queen Serenity and family standing there. "She's just tired, breaking my prison took a lot out of her."

Everyone except Serena and Darien got up and bowed or curtsied. Even the cats and Apollo. The only reason Darien didn't was because Serena was using him as a pillow, and he didn't want to bother her. "Don't, my friends," Serenity said quickly. "You never need to bow to me. I was your friend long before I became Queen."

Amy turned back to Serena. "I didn't think that just breaking the prison would take this much out of her," she said worriedly. "I mean, I knew it would be difficult, or it wouldn't need the Crystal, but to put her this out of it?"

"You're right, Amy, it is not just the breaking of my prison that has weakened her, but the breaking of the Crystal," Serenity said calmly.

The response to that statement was not at all calm. "WHAT!?" came from everyone in tones of disbelief, anguish and worry.

Serena spoke up, barely awake, "It's not as bad as she made it sound," she said softly, "The Moon Crystal wasn't truly broken, it was only split in two. She needs the Crystal to do her work, as I need it to do mine. And I suddenly felt that whatever happened to her original, we would not be getting it back. So I split the Moon Crystal. It will be alright, it just took a lot out of me."

"YOU SPLIT THE MOON CRYSTAL?" was the response. Serena and Serenity were treating it as if it was a perfectly natural occurrence, but no one else felt that way.

"How could you do such a thing?" Lita asked. Her only answer was silence. She looked over to see that Serena had finally given in to exhaustion and was fast asleep against Darien.

Tranquillity stepped forward, "Look, how about if we let her sleep it off in the bedroom we already have prepared for her, and then I'll show the rest of you around." Unspoken but understood, was the idea that Serenity, Endymion, and Reenie really needed to be alone together right now.

"Um, Tranq," Endymion began.

"Don't worry, big brother, I know what I am and am not allowed to show them." Tranquillity waited until Darien had picked up Serena and then led the group from the room. For the rest of the day, Serena slept deeply, the visitors from the past had a fairly comprehensive tour of the palace and the Royal Family stayed closed up together.

Later that night, while the others were being entertained royally, Serena woke up. She looked around for a long moment, disoriented by waking up in a strange room, one she had never seen before. When her memory finally came up with a place that fit the description, she sighed in relief and got up. She suddenly realized she was very, very hungry, her stomach's almost constant grumbling being her first clue. She left her room, looking for a kitchen. Her wandering eventually took her into a room where Serenity, Endymion, and Reenie were curled up together on the couch.

"Hi, Serena!" Reenie called out when she saw her.

Serena blushed as she realized she had interrupted them. "I'm sorry, I was looking for the kitchen."

"That is all right, Serena," Serenity smiled. "Reenie was just about to go to bed, then I'll show you where the food is."

Reenie jumped up and hugged Serenity and Endymion. "Good night, Mommy. Good night, Daddy. Night Serena. Come on, Diana, Luna Ball, let's go."

Endymion got up and went with her to tuck her in. Serenity was watching Serena and saw the flash of pain in her eyes. "Serena, what's wrong?" she asked as soon as they were alone.

"Nothing's wrong, Your Majesty," Serena answered, dropping her eyes.

Serenity moved forward and put her hand under Serena's chin, forcing her head up so she could look her in the eyes. They both got lost for a moment in the similarities, before Serena turned away.

"Serena," Serenity said firmly, "you do not think you can fool me, do you?"

"I told you, nothing is wrong," Serena answered stubbornly.

"And I do not believe you. I know you far too well, my self. But I will drop it if you wish, for now." Serenity drew her over to the couch and they sat down together. "I think you need to talk to someone who understands, right now."

"Understands what?" Serena asked, honestly confused at the jump the conversation had taken.

"You," was the calm answer.

"Oh, so you understand everything about you now?" Serena asked teasingly.

"No," she answered easily, "But I do understand quite a bit about you'."

"Same thing."

"A thousand years can make quite a difference," Serenity answered laughing slightly.

"Well, maybe a little difference," Serena agreed grinning. "So, you know everything about me, huh? Okay, why am I an airhead?"

"That is easy," Serenity answered, "Number one, you are lazy and being an airhead means no one expects much of you. Number two, it is fun. Why do you not tell me number three?"

Endymion came back into the room then, "What are you two talking about?"

"Why I'm an airhead," Serena answered lightly, "We've decided two reasons are because I'm lazy and it's fun. The third reason is Sammy."

"Sammy?" Endymion asked, surprised. "What do you mean Sammy? I thought maybe it was Travis, you know, half your brain was missing until he came back. After all you seemed to lose a lot of the airheadedness after he came." Endymion ducked as pillows flew at him from across the room. When he looked up, Serena and Serenity had the same look of gleeful innocence on their faces. "I surrender!" he laughed, "But I do want to know what you mean."

"Actually, I don't know," Serena said, her grin fading. She turned to Serenity, "Do you know why I said that?"

"It is a lot closer to your time than mine," Serenity laughed, "Do you remember what you were like when you were three or four?"

Serena thought for a long moment, "Not really," she answered. "My parents tell me I was always pretending to be a... " her voice trailed off and she looked up. "Princess, or superhero. I always told them that that was what I was going to be when I grew up, and I did everything I could to try to live up to what I thought I was. Then Sammy came, and I changed, drastically."

"Do you remember why?" Serenity said softly.

"Yes," she said, just as softly. "My parents had just brought Sammy home, and he was so little, and helpless. I had to protect him, I was going to be the greatest superhero in the world, so nothing would ever threaten my little brother."

"So what happened?" Endymion asked intently.

"I saw a movie on television, about this superhero who's family was killed to get at him. I shouldn't have even been up, but I had convinced the sitter that it wouldn't hurt. I asked her how they knew who he was, and she said that he always acted like a hero. It was easy to figure out who he was because no one else acted that way." Serena's voice trailed off, caught up in the memories. "I decided then and there that no one would ever figure out who I was. I would not act like a superhero, until I was one." She looked up and laughed a little wildly. "I actually practiced being clumsy and forgetful. Can you believe I actually practiced' being forgetful?"

"Until it stopped being practice, and became habit. A habit you couldn't break," Serenity replied.

"Then Travis came along, and more than anyone or anything else, reminded me of who I had been and who I could be. And for him, I could do it. I could break the habits I had spent ten years making." Serena smiled a little at the thought of her twin.

"Why for him? Why not for me?" Endymion broke in. He was just the slightest bit jealous of his blood brother at the moment. Serena and Serenity just looked at each other for a long moment before turning back to him. "You are not going to like it," Serenity warned.

"I'm a grown man, I think I can take it," Endymion answered.

Serena spoke up, "I never felt like you expected it," was all she said.

"What do you mean?" Endymion was confused.

"I would have done anything you asked of me, because I loved you so much, but you never asked. I always got the idea that you didn't expect anything more from me. Almost as if..." Serena's voice trailed off again, but Serenity didn't have that problem.

"As if you truly believed that I was doing the best I could. It is true that in a fight you would encourage me and believe in me, but I never had that feeling in anything else. Sometimes, I had to wonder if you thought I was dumb. I still loved you in spite of it, but sometimes..."

"Sometimes it drove me crazy. I think for a while, I was actually trying to live down to your expectations." Serena and Serenity had gotten a rhythm going and were trading the conversation back and forth. "Travis always believed in me, but of course..."

"Of course, he never really had the time to see the me that everyone else saw. I was too busy crying about you leaving. He never had any preconceived notions of who I was, so he made his own decisions. You seemed to take me at face value." Serenity sighed, "Oh, well, you got better. And at least you never took me for granted, I would have really hated that."

Endymion shook his head in disbelief, "I never thought of you that way!"

"I know you didn't, and I know Darien doesn't, but that is sure how it seemed," Serena answered.

Endymion seemed to be thinking deeply, then he got up and kissed Serenity, "I have something to do. I'm sorry I forgot about it, I'll be back in a while."

Serena and Serenity burst into giggles as he left. "I have the feeling Darien's not going to make that mistake again," Serenity giggled gently.

Reenie giggled slightly as well. She had gotten up to get a drink of water when she heard the three of them talking. She hadn't truly meant to eavesdrop, but couldn't help herself. She was glad her mother was laughing again. Reenie didn't think she'd ever heard her mother giggle like that before.

Although Travis and Darien had seemed tense when confronted with their older selves, Serena and Serenity seemed to enjoy it immensely. Reenie was happy just to watch them, never having seen her mother acting totally happy and carefree. After a while they settled down.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" Serenity suddenly asked gently.

Serena froze and seemed about to deny that anything was wrong. Then she looked up at Serenity and her eyes were full of pain. "I'm just being silly. And selfish," she almost muttered.

"You are hurting, Serena, and I wish to know why," Serenity said still quietly, but there was a tone in her voice that said she would not be put off.

Serena jerked to her feet and walked over to the window. "I told you, I was just being silly. For some strange reason, I thought she would still love me."

"Reenie?" Serenity asked. Reenie gasped, what did Serena mean?

"I was just being stupid. I should have known that once she had her real mother back, she wouldn't need a substitute one anymore." Serena turned around and ran out of the room, her eyes clouded with tears.

Reenie stepped into the room. Her eyes were also filled with tears. "Mommy, what did I do?" she cried.

Serenity opened her arms to her daughter. Reenie ran into them. "It was not anything you did, so much as what you did not do." She spoke quietly, "You have been living with her for months, loving her for weeks, but you did not even think about giving her a hug good-night, did you?"

Reenie slowly shook her head. She realized her mother was right, she had been almost ignoring Serena and Darien since she had been reunited with her parents. "But that doesn't mean I don't love her!" she said petulantly.

"I know, and she knows that too. She knows how much we mean to you, so there must have been something else. Can you think of anything?" Serenity soothed.

Reenie thought back to everything that had happened after the fight with Rubeus. Her eyes slowly got wider. "When I was telling Puu and Daddy everything that happened, I never called her my mommy. I barely even talked about Serena, but that was cause I thought they knew! Not cause I didn't still think of her that way. But it could have looked like I didn't care for her anymore, I guess. But I do! So, what do I do, Mommy?" she babbled.

"She is just overwrought, after almost losing you to Rubeus, she feels she is losing you to us. She will be fine."

"What does over... over... that word mean?" Reenie interupted.

"It means that she's upset, Reenie, and she's scared."

Reenie looked up at her mother in disbelief. "Scared? That I don't love her anymore?"

"Yes, Reenie. I know you say you still love her, but I do not think you are being entirely truthful," as Reenie looked up in shock, "with yourself, about your reasons for not speaking about her. There is another reason you have been almost ignoring her, is there not?" Serenity kept her arms around her daughter, as Reenie thought about what she said.

Reenie slowly nodded. "I still feel bad," she said in a small voice. "I hurt her! She's still got the bruise. I was afraid that she didn't really mean it and that she didn't really want to be my mother anymore. I know she said she did, but what if she was only trying to be nice? I didn't want to... to..." Reenie couldn't go on, but once more Serenity was able to finish the thought.

"You didn't want to make her feel obligated, by reminding her that she was your mother, if she wanted to forget it?" Serenity said very comfortingly.

"Huh? I don't understand, Mommy." Reenie was confused by all the big words her mother was using.

"I'm sorry darling, I meant that you didn't want her to think she 'had' to forgive you just because she was your mother."

Reenie nodded slowly. "I didn't mean to hurt her more. She had already been hurt by everybody else. And I ended up hurting her more! I can't do anything right," she sobbed.

"Now, Reenie, don't think like that. You can fix it. What can you do to make her feel loved?" Serenity asked.

Reenie huddled in her mother's arms for a long moment. Then she shot up. "I know!" she cried and ran out of the room. She ran down the hall to the room where Serena was supposed to sleep. She drew in a deep breath and opened the door. "Mommy, I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you?"

"Your mother's not here, Reenie," Serena said almost harshly.

"Don't be silly. You're my mommy, too," Reenie answered, climbing up on the bed.

"Reenie, I know you don't really want me to be your mommy, now that you have your real one back. You don't have to pretend anymore," Serena said, still facing away from the little girl.

"I'm not pretending. Are you saying it's true for you but not for me?" Reenie almost whined.

"What's true?" Serena answered, finally turning over.

"You told your parents that you would always be their daughter, and nothing could ever change that. Well, I will always be your daughter, and nothing will ever change that, either." Reenie sounded very sure. "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I was afraid."

"Afraid of what, little one?" Serena asked softly, reaching out slowly.

Reenie cuddled under Serena's hand. "I was afraid you hadn't forgiven me for this," she said reaching up to the bruise on Serena's forehead. "I thought maybe you didn't want to be my mother anymore, and were only saying you did to be nice. I'm sorry if I made you think I didn't love you anymore. I'm so sorry."

"Reenie, you apologized for this," she touched her forehead, "earlier, and I told you it wasn't your fault. I meant it. You see, it works both ways. You will always be my daughter, and I will always be your mother. The only way you can stop me, is by telling me that you don't want me to be your mother or that you no longer wish to be my daughter. I thought that was what you were doing. I'm sorry for taking it the wrong way."

"I'm sorry..." Reenie started before Serena interrupted her.

"No more, I'm sorry's, okay? We both took things the wrong way and we've both apologized. Now let's get to sleep."

"I have one more thing to be sorry for," Reenie whispered, "the Crystal disappearing was my fault."

"What?" Serena bolted up in bed and Reenie almost cringed, relaxing when Serena's arms went around her. "What do you mean, Reenie?"

"I just wanted to grow a little," Reenie said, still whispering, "I wanted to be a lady, like my mother and I thought the Crystal could help me grow. But when I touched it, it turned into light and disappeared." Two tears showed in Reenie's eyes. "You see, it was all my fault, I had to make everything right. That's one reason I went into the past."

"Oh, Reenie, everything will be alright, you'll see." The two girls had just started to fall asleep when they were awoken.

"THE SHIELD IS DOWN! THE SHIELD IS DOWN! THE PALACE IS UNDER ATTACK! ALL ROYAL GUARDS TO YOUR POSTS!"

--

Chapter Twelve is The Prophecy Fufilled and should be the Grand Finale in the series. Whether I'll get everything in, is still to be seen.

_To Be Continued_


	12. The Prophecy Fulfilled

**Disclaimer**  
I don't own Sailor Moon. This is not my story. It belongs to Jendra. I'm just re-posting it with permission from the original author, Jendra.

**Sailor Moon Universal**

**--**

**Chapter Twelve:** The Prophecy Fulfilled

"THE SHIELD IS DOWN! THE SHIELD IS DOWN! THE PALACE IS UNDER ATTACK! ALL ROYAL GUARDS TO YOUR POSTS!"

Serena and Reenie were jolted awake and stared at each other in disbelief. The blaring of the sirens soon turned that disbelief into horror as they got up.

Without saying anything or bothering to get changed, they ran out of the room into a scene of utter confusion. Guards were running down the halls to try to get to their posts while terrified civilians seemed to be trying to find a place to hide. They had been so sure that the shield would protect them that its sudden disappearance threw them into a panic. Several of the guardsmen and women seemed to wish to join the panic, but most of them were keeping calm and going about their duties as best as possible.

Serena was trying to decide what she should do when King Tranquillity pushed his way towards her. He swept Reenie up into his arms. "Come on, follow me! We need to get to the Shield Room!" he shouted as he almost ran through the sea of humanity. Serena followed on his heels.

When they reached the Shield Room, they saw Amy, Raye, Mina, and Lita helping their elder counterparts to sit up. From the quick glance Serena took before going up to Serenity, she noticed that the Scouts seemed older and more mature than her friends and, in addition, there were slight differences in their uniforms.

Serenity was staring into a monitor showing the outside of the Palace. Serena gasped as she saw the number of droids and warriors gathering outside the doors. "How bad is it?" she asked tautly.

"It could be worse," Serenity answered soothingly.

"Don't patronize me," Serena said harshly.

Serenity shot her a surprised glance. Then she smiled, "I am not, it could' be worse. For instance, he' could appear," she said turning back to the monitor which now showed a man (possibly) dressed in a dark purple robe, and holding a globe in his hands. He seemed to be floating in midair above the droids assembled before the Palace.

"Who's he?" Serena asked, not exactly sure she wanted to know.

"He is the Wiseman, the leader of the NegaMoon forces. He is very strong, and uses illusion and brainwashing to increase the size of his army and his power."

"So, many of those droids are probably an illusion?" Travis asked, having listened intently.

"No, they are probably real. It is just that many of the humans are citizens of Crystal Tokyo that he has taken and brainwashed."

"Which means we have to heal them, instead of destroying them, right?" Serena asked, although it was not truly a question. The Scouts had never killed a human, and she had no intention of starting now. Rubeus did not' count.

"It will not be that easy," Serenity answered. "He was the one that created the crystal that turned Reenie against us, but if he had been there in truth, it is doubtful whether she could have been healed at all, much less that easily."

"Easily?" Serena remembered the problems she had had healing Reenie, and Serenity thought that was easy?

Reenie had been listening and gasped. "He.. He could turn me against you again? I don't want to turn against you again! Don't let him get me! Please, Mommy!"

Neither of the two had realized that Reenie had been listening, but their response was extremely similar. They both dropped to their knees next to the little girl and gathered her into a hug, gathering each other in as well.

"Don't worry, little one, we are not going to let him come anywhere near you," Serenity murmured.

"Yes, Small Lady, he would have to get through all of us, and there's no way we're going to let him do that," Serena agreed.

Reenie sighed and felt a lot better. She knew that both of her mothers meant exactly what they said and she gave them both a hug, which was returned two-fold, before they got up to look at the monitor again.

"At least this time, we have two Crystals," Serena remarked.

Endymion came over, "Everyone's fine, they just got overwhelmed," he reported.

"So they will be able to fight if necessary?" Serenity asked pointing at the monitors.

He looked at the monitors expressionlessly for a long moment. "Yes, I'll tell them." Serena and Serenity followed him to where the others were gathered. He started briefing everyone. "The bad news is that we have several hundred enemies gathered outside our doors and the guards will not be able to hold them back for long. The good news is that we have twice as many Scouts as they are expecting. That is, if the younger Scouts are joining us?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" Mina asked, "Of course we're joining you!"

"We can't let evil win," Raye agreed.

"Come on, let's go kick some droids," was Lita's answer.

"Since we're here, it's only logical that we help," Amy replied seriously.

"Besides the fact that it should be loads of fun," Travis said, poking Amy in the side. "Lighten up." Oh, great, now I'm sounding like an airhead again.

"We're helping," Serena put the final approval on the idea, "Everyone transform."

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"SUN STONE POWER!"

Within seconds, six new Scouts and Tuxedo Mask stood in the room. The Scouts were trying to compare their uniforms with the older ones uniforms. The elder Venus spoke up. "These are our Super forms, so I guess we can be called Super Sailor Scouts to distinguish us from the Sailor Scouts." Venus was looking at Super Venus in annoyance. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything about your being less powerful than us. You'll get here eventually. I mean it's only..."

"Venus!" Endymion called scathingly, she blushed and looked down, remembering the lecture they'd been given on what their younger selves were and were not allowed to know.

"Wait a minute," Reenie spoke up, "Who am I duoing with?" she asked petulantly.

"Nobody!" came from several throats at once. "You are not fighting withus this time," Tranquillity embellished. "It's too dangerous."

"But!" Reenie almost whined.

"No buts, sweetheart," Serenity put in, "You are staying right here where it is safe and the Wiseman can not get to you."

"That's not fair!" Reenie almost yelled.

"Fair or not, that's the way it's going to be," Sailor Moon said, "We are not taking chances on your safety now." The finality in their voices finally got to the little girl and she went off into a corner to sulk.

"Super Mercury, would you stay here and watch over her?" Serenity asked quietly.

Super Mercury just nodded and went over to the monitors. "They are breaking through, I think you had better get up there."

"You're going to have trouble running in that," Sailor Moon called to Neo-Queen Serenity, pointing to her dress.

"That is why I have these," Serenity said serenely, opening her wings and flying above the group. The Super Scouts didn't even bat an eye, but the younger Scouts just stared until Serenity took off down the corridor.

"Cool," Sailor Moon breathed, before running after her. The others quickly followed.

The citizens still in the corridors quickly got out of the way of the running Scouts and began to cheer. A couple of times the cheers died in disbelief as people understood what they were seeing, two of each Scout, but most people didn't care as long as the Scouts were okay and going to fight.

The Scouts ran outside and slammed the doors behind them as the droids and soldiers tried to get past them to get into the Palace.

Sailor Moon opened her mouth to start a speech, but a glare from Sailor Sol stopped her. It didn't stop the others though.

"For turning the people of this city into mindless slaves," Super Mars started.

"The fires of Mars' justice shall burn you to ashes!" Mars finished.

"For daring to attack this beautiful city," Jupiter started.

"Father Jupiter's thunder will strike you down!" Super Jupiter finished.

"The love of Venus exists in each of you," it was Venus' turn.

"Let its beauty enter your souls once more!" Super Venus said in turn.

"The ice of Mercury shall freeze your ambitions," Mercury announced and finished, "and turn you back to the search for truth!"

Sailor Moon stuck out her tongue at her brother, "We are the Sailor Scouts! Champions of Love and Justice. And on behalf of the.." she stopped for a moment and looked up at Serenity. "On behalf of Crystal Tokyo, and the Moon, we will right wrongs and triumph over evil. And that means you!" her finger pointing straight at the Wiseman.

"Do you truly think your pitiful speeches will change their minds? They are mine now, and on behalf of the NegaMoon, they will destroy you!" the Wiseman answered back.

"Oh great," Sailor Sun muttered to himself, "now they have the bad guys doing it too!" Tranquillity heard that and grinned before turning back to the enemies before him. For the first time, Sailor Sol recognized the swords Tranquillity was carrying. It was the Sun Sword and Moon Sword of his two forms.

"People of Crystal Tokyo, remember who you were! Remember the peace and happiness of our kingdom. Fight for it once more, not against it. Remember and be healed!" Serenity called out.

"MOON CRYSTAL HEALING ACTIVATION!" The power of the Crystal washed over the people in front of her. Here and there a man or woman would look up in confusion and wonder what they were doing there, before being brought back under the Wiseman's sway. "Come my self, they cannot stand against the two of us."

"Right!" Sailor Moon said, pulling out her own Crystal. "MOON CRYSTAL HEALING ACTIVATION!"

"Let's help them," Venus called out, turning to the mass in front of her.

"Remember, no lethal, or even harmful attacks against the humans," Endymion said, "Try to hit the Wiseman, to at least distract him from using his spells."

"SOLAR FLARE!" flamed towards the Wiseman, followed by a dozen of Tuxedo Mask's roses. Both bounced off of a shield in front of the Wiseman. Sailor Sol wasn't paying attention however. "What? You're attacking without a speech?" Sailor Sol asked, stunned.

"They're doing such a good job without me, I decided to hold off on it for now," Tuxedo Mask answered, chuckling.

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" the two Mars' called out their attacks and disks and arrows of fire flew into the mass of droids. Occasionally one would head toward the form of the Wiseman, but they knew their attacks wouldn't go through.

"VENUS METEOR SHOWER!" "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" "Love and Beauty Shock?" Venus muttered to herself while directing her Meteor Shower against the droids and Wiseman.

"JUPITER THUNDER DRAGON!" "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" The two Jupiters called out their own attacks. Oak Evolution? That sounds like a kind of wimpy attack, Jupiter thought. After seeing the damage it caused her thoughts changed, I want one of those!

Mercury was scanning the Wiseman and his forces for a weakness, while Tranquillity and Endymion were forging through the ranks, their swords doing quite a bit of damage. They didn't notice the wave of droids that were getting ready to attack them from behind, because they thought it was being taken care of by the others. Luckily for them, Mercury did see it.

"MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH!" took care of that wave. Endymion flung a salute back at her as the two men kept going straight for the Wiseman.

The two Crystal's healing power was working on more and more those under Wiseman's mind control. However it was taking its toll; Serenity and Sailor Moon were getting weaker.

The Wiseman called out, "I will make a deal with you. Your champion will fight me, alone. If she, or he, wins, I will leave this world and never return. If I win, you die."

"Why should we agree to something like that?" Super Mars asked in disbelief.

"Because at least that way, you have a fighting chance of surviving. Not much of one, I will admit, but better than fighting them'." As he finished speaking, he pointed backwards, where a new wave of ships was appearing on the horizon. They set down and opened up to send a thousand more droids to join the fight.

"Oh, come on, you don't expect us to believe that, do you?" Super Jupiter asked mockingly. "Everyone knows you are a master of illusion."

"Um, Super Jupiter," Mercury starts at the same time that Super Mercury's voice came over their communicators. "As far as I can determine, those reinforcements are real," Super Mercury said.

"I agree," came from Mercury.

"We can not fight them all," Serenity said in despair, "but there is not one of us strong enough to take him on by herself."

"Well? I am waiting for your answer," the Wiseman said gloatingly. He knew that they could not fight this many droids, but had wanted them to think they could win at first, which is why he waited until now to unleash them. Besides, droids could always be replaced. He could have had all the droids show up from the beginning, but then he wouldn't have been able to see the despair on their faces when they thought they were winning and then had the tables turned on them.

"Here, I'll make it easy on you. I'll give you until daylight to decide. Then either your champion comes out fighting, or you all do. And in that time, neither I nor any of my people will attack."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Super Mars said suspiciously.

"You don't, but you don't have much choice either." The Wiseman knew he had them and didn't mind playing with them for a while longer.

The Scouts, Serenity, Endymion, and Tranquillity, who had returned when the Wiseman started speaking, talked it over. Their final decision was unanimous. They could not hope to fight off that many droids and enslaved people, but they also had no one who could face the Wiseman one on one. However, the night's leeway might give the Mercury's time to come up with a plan and would at least give Sailor Moon and Serenity time to rest up and regain some of the power they had spent.

"We will take your time," Serenity said regally and turned to lead the others inside.

Sailor Moon turned back to the Wiseman. "Enjoy your last night alive, creep. When we come back, we'll cream you."

The Wiseman's laughter followed them back inside.

--

When the thirteen fighters returned to the Shield Room, Reenie jumped up. "Mommy? Daddy? Did we.. did we.. lose?" she asked in a trembling voice.

Serenity and Endymion went to her and picked her up. "No, sweetheart," Endymion said, "We didn't lose, but we also didn't win. We'll find a way. I know we will."

Reenie seemed a little reassured, and wiggled down to see what the Mercurys were doing.

Tuxedo Mask looked intently at the King and Queen. "What if we don't?" he asked quietly.

"If we do not," Serenity responded, "then we will send you back to your own time with Reenie. You would take care of Reenie, would you not?"

"No," Sailor Moon answered shortly. Everyone around her looked at her in disbelief.

"I will not take care of her in my time, because I am not going to leave you here to fight alone." Sailor Moon went on in that same hard voice. Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Sol looked at each other in despair, they had heard the same voice before, when she had refused to hurt the Nega-Princess. Sailor Sol slammed his sword into the nearest convenient wall. It was the only way he could think of to try to alleviate some of his frustration. He and Tuxedo Mask both knew they wouldn't be able to change her mind about leaving. Not when she spoke like that.

Serenity didn't have that trouble. She grabbed Sailor Moon's chin and turned her so she could see Reenie, playing with the five cats. "Do you see Reenie?" she asked harshly. Sailor Moon tried to nod, but the grip on her chin was too strong. "That little girl is your daughter as much as she is mine, but she has not been born to you yet, agreed?"

"So?" Sailor Moon asked, "I know she hasn't been born yet. I'm only fourteen."

"So, if you die, here and now, in a fight that is not your own, that little girl will never be born. She will never have existed at all. Are you going to sentence her to non-existence, because you are too stubborn to go home?"

Sailor Moon stared at Reenie for another long moment, before collapsing in defeat. "No," she whispered brokenly, a tear trailing down her cheek, "I can't do that to her. But," she rallied, "I will not leave here until every last chance has been tried, agreed?"

"Agreed," Serenity said, wiping the tear off of Sailor Moon's face, "Not until every last thing has been tried."

Super Mercury and Mercury walked up right then. They noticed the emotional tension in the air, but disregarded it. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Mercury asked.

"There is good news?" Serenity was surprised, "I think I would like to hear that first."

"Together, you and Sailor Moon managed to turn practically the entire contingent of humans back to our side, which severely cuts down on the amount of problems we have," Super Mercury answered.

"That's very good to hear," Endymion put in, "Now what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that we've run simulation after simulation, in none of them can we defeat the entire group of droids, nor can any one of us defeat the Wiseman in single combat."

"What about using the full power of the Crystal?" Serenity asked calmly. All those around her seemed about to argue vehemently, but one glance from her caused them to stifle their objections.

"It would not work," a voice said from the shadows. They turned in shock and dropped into fighting stances. Walking out of the shadows of the corner was..

"Puu!" Reenie yelled, running up and hugging her. Everyone else relaxed.

"Don't do that to us, Pluto," Super Jupiter called out, "You know we hate being surprised like that."

"So, if the Crystal won't work, what will?" Tranquillity asked quietly. Pluto just looked at him. It was obvious she wasn't going to tell them anything more about their future.

"I know," Sailor Sol said quietly. When the others turned to him, they saw him staring at the sword he had stuck in a wall.

"The prophecy," Mercury whispered, "Universal power."

The others had gathered around by then and were looking at the sword. The younger Scouts understood what was happening, while the older ones had to search back in their memories before they remembered the prophecy.

"But we don't even know what it all means!" Venus said.

"Then we'd better figure it out," was Super Mars' answer.

"What was the whole thing again?" Super Jupiter asked, "I'm not sure if I remember it correctly."

Tuxedo Mask started, "Three bloodlines and four crowns,

For Universal power.

Nine Scouts of five planets

To stand upon the hour."

Sailor Sol took his part, "Two Earths, two Moons, Two Suns,

Though only three survive.

Three stones consumed,

Three stones resumed,

Three stones that did arrive."

Sailor Moon finished it, "When Power into the child is cast,

The Universe is safe at last."

"What we have figured out so far," Mercury started, "is that the first two lines stand for Reenie, the second two would seem to be us, the Scouts."

"The Two Earths, so on, line is about the six of us," Sailor Moon added.

"Although I still do not like the next line at all," Tuxedo Mask put in. Endymion murmured agreement.

"Serena figured that the three stones are the Moon Crystal, Earth Gem, and Sun Stone, but we're not sure what the rest of that part means," Sailor Sol said.

The Scouts gathered into little groups to discuss it. Sailor Moon and Sailor Sol stood talking quietly together.

"It would help if we knew what happened to the original Crystal," he said musingly.

Sailor Moon thought about it for a long moment and then told him what Reenie had told her earlier that night.

"Well, that explains a lot," he said quietly.

"Hmm? Oh you mean about how the Crystal disappeared when it shouldn't have been able to be touched? Yes it does," Sailor Moon agreed.

"That too," Sailor Sol said absently as he headed over to Mercury. "Mercury, will you scan Reenie for traces of Moon Crystal energy please?" he asked.

"Why?" Mercury responded to the strange request, but she was pulling down her visor as she said it. She stared at the readings she was getting for a long moment, before going over to talk to Super Mercury. Super Mercury also put down her visor and took readings of Reenie before they both headed over to Sailor Sol.

"Well?" Sailor Moon asked from her spot beside him.

"Reenie is full of Moon Crystal energy. It's almost as if she has the Moon Crystal with her," Super Mercury answered.

"Not with her, within her," Sailor Sol said. As the three looked at him in shock, he continued, "She told Serena that she wanted to grow up and thought the Crystal could help her, but when she touched it, it turned into light and disappeared. I suddenly wondered if that could be what the line meant by consumed."

The two Mercurys nodded slowly, "If the Crystal became a part of her, then it could, indeed, be considered consumed," Mercury agreed.

"That does make sense. Why didn't I think of that?" Sailor Moon asked. "Let me go talk to her before we tell the others, okay?" She walked towards Reenie.

"Small Lady?" Sailor Moon said softly.

"Yes, Sailor Moon?" Reenie said brightly.

"You need to tell everyone what happened to the Crystal," Sailor Moon said gently.

Reenie started shaking her head, "I can't! They'll hate me for losing it and not telling anyone. I can't tell them!"

"You must, Reenie, because I know where the Crystal is," Sailor Moon answered.

"You do?" Reenie's face lit up. "Then I can give it back to Mommy and everything will be alright."

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart, the Crystal is inside of you. It's a part of you now, and I think it's a part of the Prophecy. If we're going to save Crystal Tokyo, we need to explain it to everyone, okay?" Sailor Moon was down on her knee by then, looking into Reenie's eyes.

"Are you sure they won't hate me?" Reenie asked in a very small voice.

"I'm positive, Small Lady. We all love you too much to ever hate you." Reenie looked in Sailor Moon's eyes for a very long moment before agreeing. They walked to the center of the room and Sailor Moon called for everyone to come hear what they were going to say.

Reenie gulped nervously as she saw all the people looking at her. The fact that she knew all of them just seemed to make it worse. Sailor Moon gave her shoulder a squeeze. She drew in a deep breath. "It'sallmyfaulttheCrystaldisappeared," she rushed.

"Slow down, Small Lady, we can not understand you," Serenity smiled down at her daughter, "Whatever it is, it will be alright. Just tell us slowly."

She took another deep breath and tried again. "It's all my fault that the Crystal disappeared. I wanted to grow up a little and thought the Crystal could help me, so I tried to use it, but when I touched it, there was suddenly this bright light and it disappeared." Everyone had gasped when she said it was her fault and she was now looking at the ground because she didn't want to see how disappointed they all were in her.

Sailor Moon still had her hand on her shoulder and started talking before anyone could remark on what they had just heard. "Travis asked the Mercurys about it and they confirmed that the Moon Crystal, or at least its energy is inside' of her. In other words, she consumed it."

Endymion looked at his daughter, "Why didn't you tell us, little one?" he asked softly.

"I thought you would blame me. I didn't want you to hate me for destroying the Crystal," she said in a small voice.

"We would never do that, Rabbit," Tranquillity said, bending down next to her.

"Hey! Don't call me Rabbit!" Reenie yelled, she started chasing her uncle around while the others laughed.

"I'll have to thank him for that," Serenity murmured as she watched the two of them. She turned back to her younger self, "So you think that is what that line means, hmm?" she asked.

"Yes, but don't ask me about the others because I have no idea," was the answer accompanied by a yawn. "Sorry, but Reenie and I were just about asleep when the alarms woke us."

Serenity smiled, "That is quite all right, you have done enough for now. I am sure that someone will figure out the rest of it."

"You're right, someone has," Mars said with a grin.

"If she consumed one of the stones, then didn't you resume one? When Serena split the Crystal to give you both one, couldn't you say that hers arrived, and yours was resumed?" Super Mars said.

"It works for me," Venus and Super Venus agreed in stereo before grinning at each other.

"We were just about to suggest that," Luna said, obviously talking for the guardians.

"So we have three stones that did arrive'," Sailor Sol quoted, "but only one stone that was consumed, and one stone that was resumed, right?"

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!! Not again! I'm sorry Uncle Tranq, I didn't mean to! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Reenie was crying while Tranquillity was staring at his Sun Sword. A Sun Sword that no longer contained the Sun Stone.

Sailor Sol looked back at the others. "Let's make that two stones that were consumed," he said with a grin.

Serenity and Endymion weren't paying attention; they were already heading towards their crying daughter. Sailor Sol grabbed Sailor Moon's arm as she was about to join them. Then he snagged Tuxedo Mask as he was headed that way.

"What?" she snapped. Tuxedo Mask looked about to ask the same question.

"I need to know how you did it," Sailor Sol said. "And I think Darien does too."

"Did what?" Sailor Moon asked, confused.

"Know what?" Tuxedo Mask asked, also confused.

"Split the Moon Crystal of course! It's obvious I'm going to have to split the Sun Stone to give Tranquillity one. And he's going to have to split the Earth Gem once Reenie consumes that. So we need to know how you did it." Sailor Sol sounded annoyed and for a brief moment, Sailor

Moon looked as if she was going to burst out wailing that he was being mean, but Reenie's wails, which were still going on in the background, reminded her of the important things and she just sighed.

"I don't know," at their looks she continued, "Honest, I don't. I just knew it had to be done, so I did it. I think she helped though. I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do."

"Great, just great, we're going to be making it up as we go along," Sailor Sol muttered.

"I'm afraid so. Hey, it's what I' did," Sailor Moon reminded him.

By the time they got over to where the others were, Reenie had been convinced that she had done what she should have, and that no one was mad at her for turning the Sun Stone into light and making it disappear. Sailor Sol went up to Tranquillity. "Come on, we need to figure out how you can resume the Sun Stone," he said.

Everyone gathered around to watch as Sailor Sol concentrated intensely and the Sun Stone rose off the pommel of his sword and into his hand. He concentrated so much that the Sun symbol would have been seen on his forehead if he didn't have the headband there.

He held the hand holding the Sun Stone out towards Tranquillity, who covered it with his own hand. His Sun symbol could be seen and was glowing brightly. The two young men concentrated intensely, trying to think of nothing but the need for a second Sun Stone. A beam of light from Tranquillity's symbol hit their joined hands and Sailor Sol pulled his head band off to reveal a glowing Sun symbol. A beam of light flew from it as well to impact the Sun Stone. They stood that way for several minutes, not paying attention to anything about them. Soon Sailor Sol was swaying, almost to the point of collapse from the amount of energy he was throwing out. Tranquillity was not in much better shape, but the Sun Stone was glowing. They could feel it almost struggling to remain one, but their combined wills were finally too much for it and with a resounding CRACK! it split.

Travis collapsed in exhaustion, but he was grinning with triumph as Tranquillity collapsed next to him. They held up their hands to show two identical golden jewels.

"YEAH!" Reenie screamed, she was very happy to see her uncle with his stone back.

"You know that's not possible," Mercury murmured to her elder self. "The theory of conservation of matter states that the amount of matter must remain constant, and here we have double the amount of matter."

"But this is magic," one Luna said.

"Besides," an Artemis added, "energy can be converted to matter without messing up that theory, and they certainly added enough energy to make several stones that size."

"Show off," both Luna's muttered.

"Our turn," Tuxedo Mask said to King Endymion.

"Wait a minute," Endymion said, "I have a couple of questions first. Number one, is the Sun Stone actually a part of Reenie?" he waited until Super Mercury checked and nodded. "Number two, is it safe for her to be holding that much energy within her?"

Luna answered this one, "There would be no danger in holding the energy of the stones, the only danger would be in fully using them, and she does not have the ability to use them. Not yet, anyway."

"All right," he agreed. Turning to his daughter, he held out the ring that held the Earth Gem. "Touch it, Reenie," he said gently.

"But what if I make it disappear like I did the others," she whined.

"That's exactly what we want you to do," Endymion explained, "It's what is needed to fulfill the Prophecy."

"Really?" Reenie squeaked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought we did. Are you sure you were paying attention?" he asked with a small grin.

"Well," she scuffed her foot on the floor, "maybe not totally."

"Touch the gem, Small Lady," Endymion gently commanded.

"All right," she answered, reaching out to touch the opal. As the others watched with intense interest, the Earth Gem turned into the multicolored lights that usually occur when Darien turns into Sailor Earth, and flew into the little girl.

Tuxedo Mask concentrated on his ring as he had seen the others do. But no matter how hard he concentrated, the Earth Gem refused to come out of its setting. "What's the matter?" he asked in confusion. The others were starting to get worried, if he wasn't able to split the Earth Gem they would not be able to fulfill the Prophecy.

Then Mars figured out what was wrong and went up and bopped Tuxedo Mask on the back of the head, "Silly, the Earth Gem will only respond to orders from the Guardian of Earth, you need to be in either your Sailor Earth form or your Prince Endymion form. Tuxedo Mask is the Guardian of the Princess and really has nothing to do with the Earth at all, so it's no wonder you haven't been able to get it to work."

Tuxedo Mask and Endymion looked at each other for a long moment, one thought going through their brains, Did I really need her to tell me that?

In a flash of cape, Prince Endymion in his black armor stood facing King Endymion. This time the concentration he used to take the Earth Gem out of the ring caused the sigil of Earth to appear on his forehead. The Earth Gem popped free and expanded to its normal size. In a repeat of the Sun Stone's breaking, beams of light flew out from the sigils on the two men's foreheads, and after a significant amount of energy was transferred into the Earth Gem, there were two opals where one had been before.

"All right, now we have everything except the hour," Super Jupiter said, as Earth's royalty almost collapsed from the strain they had been under. "When should we try to finish this?"

Pluto spoke up then, for only the second time since she had appeared, this was a time question she could answer. "Daybreak, exactly, when the full moon is still in the sky and the Sun is touching Earth's horizon."

"So what do we do until then?" Jupiter asked.

Sailor Moon answered immediately, "Sleep!"

"All right, but I think we should stay here, so we will not have to worry about finding one of us when it is time," Serenity announced.

"Not to mention waking one up," Mars griped.

They settled down around the room, Serena snuggling into Darien's embrace and using his chest as a pillow, Reenie settling down between her parents. Tranquillity went around and talked to all of the older Scouts for a little while, before sitting down next to Travis. Their low voiced conversation setting a backdrop for the other night noises. Most of the Scouts sat down or laid down next to their otherselves, and buzzing conversation could be heard from around the room.

Serena looked up at Darien, "I hope we're wrong about that line," she said quietly.

"I know," he answered, "I'm going to miss Reenie if she stays here, but I do not want her staying with us because her parents are dead."

"Things will work out. They just have to," she whispered brokenly.

"Try not to think about it," Darien told her.

"I can't help it. What else can I think about?" Serena said absently, still looking at their elder counterparts.

"Think about me," he answered mischievously.

"But I do that all the time. Don't you ever get tired of being thought of by me?" she asked, laughing slightly.

"Never," was his reply, "unless of course you get tired of thinking of me."

"Yeah, right, when the Moon falls into the Sun, is when I'll stop thinking of you. Though I am a little surprised to find us still as much in love after a thousand years."

"I'm not, my love. We have already loved for a thousand years, our love has carried through death and through rebirth, I would not be at all surprised to find it still alive and well, a thousand years from now."

"And if they die?" Serena said sadly.

"Then they will love through that death and into life again. And if they are not reborn, then they will find each other in heaven. We cannot be separated, we have proven that before, death cannot destroy our love."

"Thank you, my prince, I think I can sleep now."

"I will be here when you awake, my princess. Sleep well." She went to sleep with a smile on her face and he followed her soon after.

An hour before daybreak they were woken up, although that did require quite a bit of persuasion on Serena and Serenity's parts.

"You mean, she still has trouble waking up?" Raye laughed.

"Yep, still," Super Mars answered disgustedly.

Finally everyone was awake and eating breakfast in an adjacent room. Although Serenity and Tranquillity didn't eat quite as fast as Serena and Travis, they packed away just as much of the food that Lita and Super Jupiter had prepared.

"Okay, so what exactly are we going to do?" Travis asked, after he finished eating. "I mean we're following the Prophecy, but we don't even know what the Prophecy is going to do, much less what else we're supposed to do to fulfill it."

"Well, Amy and I were talking about it last night," Super Mercury said, "and we believe that what we are going to do is awaken the power of all three stones within Reenie."

"Wait a minute!" Endymion almost shouted, beating Darien out by seconds, "You said that using the power of the stones would be dangerous to her."

"Yes, but we were thinking of her using the full power of the stones, but she won't be," Amy put in. "We checked on some readings I took yesterday when she duoed with Sailor Moon. She was using the power of the Crystal then, otherwise her form would have been much weaker. She just can't use the power on her own yet, she's too young."

"Am not," Reenie groused, but nobody was really paying attention.

"Eventually, she will be able to use the powers of the Crystal to become Crescent Moon without any help from Sailor Moon, but I would say she would have to be quite a bit older before that happens. In the meantime, what we are going to be doing is activating all three of the Stones to make her into a much more powerful Sailor Scout."

"I don't see why doing that would require all of this stuff with the Prophecy, can't we all just duo with her?" Serena asked.

"That would activate only one jewel at a time, it would deactivate as soon as she duoed with someone else. We have to activate all three simultaneosly and cause her body to metabolize the power. And to do that, we need to focus everyone's power into her, including the six stones."

"That seems like a very complicated and dangerous way to do it," Darien put in worriedly.

Pluto spoke up once more, "After the first time, she would need only the power from three of the stones to change, using the stones doesn't take that much power, but activating them does. Now it is time." With that she stood up and moved into the shield chamber.

Serenity, Endymion, and Tranquillity were wrapped in a three way hug, as everyone else tried to reassure Reenie that everything was going to work out fine. Serena whispered to Reenie, "Go to your mother," as she took Darien and Travis' hands and led them out of the room. The last thing she saw as she exited was the hug opening to let Reenie into the middle.

--

In the Shield Room the other Scouts had already transformed and gathered into a circle around the outside of the room. Pluto was at the apex with the others spread around. Serena pulled out her Crystal, which she had not put back into the brooch, and staring into it, pulled its power into her until she transformed into the Princess Serenity. In a flash of rose petals and a black cape, Prince Endymion stood next to her.

Travis looked down at the Sun Stone, trying to figure out what they had done to change. He searched earnestly within himself and the Sun Stone until he found the image he wanted, and in a flare of bright yellow light, Prince Tranquillity stood there. Tranquillity was dressed in gold armor that reflected the lights of the room, making it even brighter. He had two swords, one on his right side, without a pommel stone, and one on his left side. He looked down at himself and then up to his grinning friends.

"Looking sharp, Bro!" Princess Serenity exclaimed.

"He looks just like my old boyfriend," Jupiter said with hearts in her eyes.

"In your dreams, Lita," Venus replied laughing.

All laughter shut off as the Royal Family entered the room. Reenie went around the room, gathering hugs, then at a motion from her father moved to the center of the room and stood there quietly. Her eyes however showed her fear.

"It will be alright, little one," Neo-Queen Serenity said.

"Yes, Small Lady, we wouldn't allow anything to harm you," King Endymion replied.

"I know, Mommy, Daddy," Reenie said bravely.

Neo-Queen Serenity moved so that she stood across from Princess Serenity. The two Princes stood on either side of the Neo-Queen, while the two Kings stood on either side of the Princess, making a second circle inside of the first.

Everyone who could was watching Pluto, who seemed to be watching the sun through the walls of the Palace, then she nodded. Everyone raised their power sticks to the sky.

"PLUTO PLANET POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!"

Red, blue, orange, green, and purple power gathered together above the Scouts before moving towards the inner circle. The stones were raised, and the six were watching the light, each other, and Reenie with equal intensity. In one voice, the two Serenitys raised their Crystals and called out. Followed quickly by the others.

"COSMIC MOON POWER!"

"COSMIC EARTH POWER!"

"COSMIC SUN POWER!"

The younger three pulled the Scouts' power into their stones and added their own before sending it to the older ones. They held the power as the others kept sending more and more, as much as they could. Pluto nodded again. Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, and King Tranquillity released all the energy they had gathered into Reenie.

Reenie screamed when the power impacted her. The inner six jerked and almost pulled the power away from her.

"Don't!" Super Mars yelled out, "We don't know what will happen to her if it's stopped now."

Reluctantly they kept the energy going. Tears were pouring down the two Serenitys' faces as they heard their daughter scream in pain. The Scouts dropped to their knees as the energy was drained out of them, but still they kept on. The light surrounding the little girl grew brighter, and brighter, until nothing of her could be seen. After what seemed like an hour, the light dimmed back to a bearable level.

Reenie was standing there dressed in a Sailor Scout uniform of white, a white so pure that it almost glowed. Her bows were the same pink as her hair and she wore a half cape that drifted down her back to her waist in a swath of purest black, that shimmered as if filled with starlight. She wore white sandals on her feet and a small crown on her forehead.

Luna stepped forward, "You are the Universal Scout, the one foretold," she said and would have continued, but the new Sailor wasn't looking at her. Luna turned to see what was happening, just in time to see Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, and King Tranquillity collapse to the ground.

"Mommy!" Reenie screamed.

The Princes and Princess had already moved to their older forms' sides. Mercury and Super Mercury ran up as well. Sailor Universe dropped down next to her mother. "Mommy!" she cried.

Super Mercury looked up. She had been to each of the fallen and had tears in her eyes when she got up from the last one. "They... they're.. they're dead," she said softly, disbelieving.

"NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Universe screamed from where she was on her knees. "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Get up! Please get up!" she sobbed, rocking back and forth as tears ran down her face.

Princess Serenity looked down at the body of her older self, then over to her grieving daughter, and then at the monitor showing the hordes of droids gathered at the city gates. Although her eyes were shining with tears, her mouth firmed with purpose and she stood.

"Small Lady," she said, gently yet firmly, but she got no response.

"Neo-Princess Serenity," she said, her voice so harsh and commanding that everyone looked at her and stared. Serena, no, Princess Serenity stood there, her crescent moon blazing. The tears in her eyes didn't detract at all from her commanding gaze. "Neo-Princess Serenity," she said again.

Sailor Universe didn't hesitate, she had, after all, been raised at Court and there was only one correct answer to those words in that' tone of voice. "Yes, Your Majesty?" her voice trembled.

"You will not' shame your mother in this way, Neo-Princess," Serenity said harshly.

"But..." she stated, only to close her mouth around the rest of the words at Princess Serenity's glare.

"She gave her life so that you could fight the Wiseman and protect the people of this world. She, they, sacrificed their lives in the belief that you would be able to protect this city and its people. Do not' demean their sacrifice by refusing your destiny or your duty."

Reenie stared at Princess Serenity for a long moment, then her features hardened with resolve. She bent down and kissed her mother's cheek before getting up. "Yes, Your Majesty," Sailor Universe said and curtsied before striding out of the door.

"Well done," Pluto said. Princess Serenity, who had been about to collapse in grief, rallied back.

"Do not well done' me," she almost growled. If everyone hadn't still been looking at her in shock from the last conversation, they would have done so at her tone of voice. "It is your fault they are dead!"

"Serena," Prince Endymion said, coming up to her, "it's okay, you just need to calm down a little. You're full of grief and saying things you don't mean," he said gently.

"Unfortunately," she responded, "I know exactly what I am talking about. You cannot tell me that he is stronger than the full power of the Moon Crystal. We did not need to go through this, Serenity could have handled him. Yes, it might have killed her, but at least Reenie wouldn't have lost her entire family in one blow!"

The others were about to try calming the obviously distraught Princess down when they saw Pluto looking down in shame.

"You mean it's true?" Prince Tranquillity asked in disbelief.

"In a way," Pluto said softly, "but I must protect the time line. It is my' duty and destiny. You are correct, Sailor Universe does not have enough control over the stones to use their full potential and so, even with the three stones, she does not have as much power as one of you fully using your stone."

"Then... Why?" Endymion cried, pointing to the people on the floor.

"Because it had to be done," Pluto's voice was anguished. "I know how much this hurt her, but it had to be, she had' to become Sailor Universe."

Princess Serenity had collapsed to her knees in exhaustion, but her eyes never left the monitors that would soon show her little girl fighting for her life. She looked around quickly at the others who were in as bad a shape as she, then looked back, praying they wouldn't be needed.

**Meanwhile, in front of the Palace.**

"Well, it's daybreak, and nobody has shown up. I guess they were too cowardly to fight a battle they were sure to lose," the Wiseman chuckled evilly.

"I would not be too sure," a voice with just a hint of a tremble came from the top of the steps. "I am Sailor Universe, Guardian and Sailor of Crystal Tokyo and the entire Silver Millennium. For the pain that you have handed out, the deaths that your senseless quest for power has caused, I will punish you!"

The Wiseman looked at the Scout standing in front of him and burst out laughing. "You?" he asked chuckling, "You, the Rabbit', think you can beat me? I had no idea the King and Queen had such a sense of humor!"

"Is this a joke?" she almost screamed, "STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" A ball of light composed of hundreds of tiny flickering lights rushed from her hands. The farther they went the bigger they got, until the ball when it hit was three times bigger than when it left her hands.

The Wiseman didn't even bother trying to get out of the way. He just grinned as the lights impacted his shield and dissipated. His grin almost faltered before he got it under control, that last was a lot more powerful than he had thought. Still, it wasn't strong enough to get through his shields. However, just in case, he decided to do something about it.

Sailor Universe was still angry and the Wiseman's laughter just made her angrier. "STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" she called, sending another ball toward the Wiseman. She began to cheer as it went through the place where his shield had been, only to fall silent as it went through him without stopping. She was still staring in disbelief as the energy ball hit her. She screamed.

--

Inside the Palace, Princess Serenity surged to her feet, ready to go to her aid.

Pluto put her hand on her shoulder. "You cannot," Pluto said quietly, "You are too weak."

"She's only ever fought once, and that doesn't really count. I can't just let her be hurt," Serenity said, not tearing her eyes from the monitors.

"It was to be champion to champion. Are you truly going to break your word?" Pluto asked.

"If it means keeping her alive? Yes," was the Princess' answer.

Back in the monitors, Reenie struggled to her feet.

--

Sailor Universe struggled to her feet. There were tears in her eyes from the pain in her arm. Now' she remembered what her mother had said about the Wiseman using illusion. She looked around quickly, trying to figure out where he was hiding.

"What," she taunted, getting ready to jump, "the great Wiseman' scared of a little kid?"

This time she caught the shimmer in the air, that was the Wiseman's attack. She threw herself out of the way and aimed where she thought the attack had come from. "STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" was called out almost before his attack had impacted on the ground.

Sailor Universe's attack hit something, and the Wiseman was shown for a brief moment as he was distracted. She readied another attack as she looked closely, trying to see him if he moved. Unfortunately, he moved quicker.

Sailor Universe screamed piercingly as the attack hit her in the back. The pain and fear she was feeling caused the Moon Crystal to respond and her moonbeam formed around her. "CRESCENT MOONBEAM STRIKE!" she cried sending the power of her moonbeam at the Wiseman's last location. It impacted, and broke through the shield.

"You hurt' me!" he said in disbelief. "Droids! I want her hurt, then kill her!" he yelled, no longer finding this humorous.

Reenie just lay there looking at them, the pain in her back not allowing her to move, and tears tracked down her face. "I'm sorry, Mommy," she whispered.

"Small Lady!" Pluto said, the thought of the little girl she loved finally shocking her out of her normal impassivity.

"Reenie!" everyone else called out worriedly.

"He's cheating, we can fight without breaking our word!" Super Jupiter called out. Her words didn't reach the ears of Princess Serenity though, she had already detransformed to Sailor Moon and ran out the door. The others followed quickly. Even Pluto joining the group. Although they were weak, they could still fight, and they were not going to let her die like that.

The guardians were left alone in the room with the bodies, and finally Luna and Apollo gave in to the grief they were experiencing. A cat's wail of loss, and the falcon's shriek, followed the Scouts outside.

--

The Wiseman and the droids were gloating above the little girl. The droid who had been chosen to kill the child knew his master wanted the little girl to hurt before being killed, and he was planning on enjoying every scream he could get. He reached down to where she was whimpering and trying to move away.

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" impacted and turned him into dust before he could touch her.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!", "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!", and "SOLAR FLARE!" helped clear a path from the Palace steps to Sailor Universe, and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask didn't hesitate to use it.

"Sailor Moon," Sailor Universe said in a small voice, "you're here?"

"Of course I'm here," she said softly, "I'm sorry we got you into this, it'll be okay." Sailor Moon kissed her daughter on the forehead and stood over her with Tuxedo Mask guarding her back.

"Oh, so you want to make this a real fight?" the Wiseman asked, "I would be glad to oblige you, droids attack! Kill them all, except the pink haired one, leave her for me to play with," he laughed.

"Over my dead body," Sailor Moon snarled.

"Exactly, my dear, exactly."

Sailor Moon pulled out her scepter and nodded at the others. By this time, most of them had managed to get around the Wiseman, so he was surrounded, without him noticing.

"MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!"

"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

"DEAD SCREAM!"

"VENUS METEOR SHOWER!"

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!"

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

"MERCURY ICE STORM SPLASH!"

"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"

The attacks, and several dozen roses flew towards the Wiseman from all sides. His shields, which had already been pierced, could not withstand the attacks for long. However, it was long enough. Before the shields could go totally down, the Scouts were attacked by the hordes of droids.

Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon stayed standing over their daughter, refusing to move for any reason. Tuxedo Mask was using his roses to devastating effect, while his cane countered any attacks coming towards him. Sailor Moon soon realized that her scepter could be used the same way and she was blocking the attacks, while sending her tiara out to do damage.

Sailor Universe had been cowering under her parents legs when she heard her father give out a grunt.

"Are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," he answered through gritted teeth, not wanting to let her know about the spike that had managed to get through his guard and impact his side. He pulled it out, but while he was busy a droid started running towards him. He looked up too late, and tried to brace himself for the attack.

"STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" Reenie called out from underneath him, turning the droid into dust.

"Thanks sweetheart," he said before going back to the battle.

The other Scouts had tried to gather together to provide a united front, but had been too spread out by the initial attack. Although each of them was doing a great deal of damage, their weakened states caused them to make mistakes. Mercury was the first to go down after taking an energy attack in her back. Super Jupiter continued fighting, even after one droid had managed to trap her leg, forcing her to fight from a sitting position.

"Venus!" Sailor Moon called out as she watched her be overwhelmed by the monsters around her. The moment's inattention allowed two attacks to hit her from opposite sides. She gasped and almost fell, only the knowledge that her daughter was under her kept her on her feet.

"Serena!" Tuxedo Mask heard the gasp and turned quickly towards her. It was a mistake. Three droids attacked immediately. Sailor Universe's "STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" took care of one of them, but the other two managed to attack, one with an energy attack and the other with a long, sharp knife. Within seconds, Tuxedo Mask was down, bleeding from a gash on his head, and Sailor Moon was fighting for her life.

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" flew at one of the droids, and he sidestepped right into the "CRESCENT MOONBEAM STRIKE!" that Sailor Universe called through her grief. While Sailor Moon and Sailor Universe were taking care of the droids that had taken down Tuxedo Mask, they made the same mistake. An energy blast impacted on Sailor Moon's unprotected back.

She dropped to her knees in pain, one knee on each side of Reenie, who still hadn't gotten up. Sailor Moon smiled painfully down at her daughter, and mouthed, "I love you," before she raised the Moon Scepter to block a blow from one of the droids closing in around her. "MOON

SCEPTER ELIMINATION!" took care of three of them, but there were still almost a dozen more gathered around, and more coming all the time.

"STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" and "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!" drilled into the droids, dropping several of them with each attack, but Sailor Moon couldn't keep it up. With the draining her power had already gone through, added to the attacks she had been hit with, her power levels were dropping quickly and she was very close to total exhaustion. Then it happened. With slowed reflexes, Sailor Moon wasn't able to stop a droid before its power impacted her on her chest. She fell backwards, and lay still.

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Reenie's anguished scream cut across the battlefield. "Not again! Please, not again! Mommy! Daddy! Please don't leave me again! Please!" Reenie started sobbing, and it was the only sound to be heard in the suddenly silent courtyard. Until another sound joined it, someone laughing.

The Wiseman floated above the scene as he laughed. He loved the delicious irony of her watching her parents die like that and watched as if it was a comedy put on for his amusement.

Universe's tears dried up as she heard the laughter, she looked at her parents, laying side by side, and remembered her other parents lying still and silent in the Shield Room. She looked around and could see only Sailor Sol and Jupiter still standing. Her resolve firmed. I'm sorry, Mommy, that I couldn't do it in time, but I will not let him win, I promise.

Sailor Universe stood up. Under normal circumstances, seeing a five year old standing like that, her face hardened with resolve, would have been a funny sight. One look in her eyes, however, would put any wish to laugh out of a person's mind.

"STARLIGHT EXTINGUISH!" she called, the ball in her hands over twice as big as any she had managed before.

The Wiseman moved quickly, but the attack hit the side of his shields and tore them down. The Wiseman quickly counterattacked. Sailor Universe managed to dodge one, but the second hit her and sent her crashing into the wall of the Palace.

The Wiseman floated in for the kill, but passed too close to one of the other Scouts. "SOLAR FLARE!" attacked the unshielded Wiseman. The Wiseman grunted at the pain and turned and blasted Sailor Sol.

Sailor Universe watched as the last member of her family fell to the evil of the Wiseman. She stared at the cause of all the deaths. Memories of her parents, both sets, and her uncles, and the Scouts passed through her mind and she started to glow. As the Wiseman watched in disbelief, her hair and cape started moving upwards and she started to float as well.

"So, you've learned how to fly," he said, seemingly unconcerned, "A lot of good it will do you." He threw another attack and she barely managed to move out of the way.

As he watched, the droids around her started to float as well, a larger and larger amount of area was feeling the effects of what could only be a loss of gravity. Sailor Universe stayed floating about two feet above the ground, and the Wiseman stayed floating where he was. Everyone and everything else started moving up and away from the Earth.

"Do you know what you're doing?" the Wiseman asked. "If you remove all of the gravity, the Earth will fall into the Sun."

"What do I know of gravity?" Sailor Universe asked in a hard voice, "I'm only a little kid."

"You don't really want to do this, do you?" the Wiseman asked, bringing all of his brainwashing ability into play. "You don't really want to harm me, you've just been misinformed. I'm really a nice person, you like me don't you?" the Wiseman's voice was soothing as he stared into Sailor Universe's eyes.

Sailor Universe faltered for a second, before a vision of her mother appeared before her eyes, "I believe in you, Small Lady, I know you can do it."

Sailor Universe stared at the Wiseman, "For all the deaths, and all the pain, for all the destruction and all the fear, for the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and the Universe, it ends here! BLACK HOLE COLLAPSE!" she sent all of the gravity she had gathered straight at him.

He attacked back with everything he had, and for a long moment, it seemed he might be able to stop it, but she looked up and saw Sailor Moon among those floating, and her eyes were open and she was smiling! The sight was enough to give Sailor Universe an extra burst of energy and the Wiseman's attack was blasted away. There was another instant of strain, as the gravity hit the crystal ball the Wiseman carried. Once more, Sailor Universe reached deep inside, to her memories of her parents and found the strength to keep going. The crystal ball shattered, and the droids disappeared, back to wherever they had come from. Only the Wiseman and the Scouts were left, and as Sailor Universe looked around, she found all of them, all of them! looking at her, waves of approval and love coming from them.

Then she looked back to find that the Wiseman was still there, and was actually starting to push the power away from him! Sailor Universe started to panic, she had no power left.

"Believe in yourself, Small Lady," Tuxedo Mask's voice came from where he floated next to Sailor Moon.

"But I don't have anything more! I'm out of power! Help me please!" she asked and she received.

From all over the field, the Scouts sent what little power they had left:

"MOON CRYSTAL POWER!"

"EARTH GEM POWER!"

"SUN STONE POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!"

"PLUTO PLANET POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!"

The power flew into Sailor Universe, and out into the gravity band that suddenly grew as the power filled it. Grew and started pushing back.

"No! That's not possible!" the Wiseman screamed, "I cannot be beaten!"

The gravity pulse impacted the Wiseman, and he tried to put up a last resistance, but the power of the Scouts, and Sailor Universe was too much. Instead of turning to dust as expected, he exploded, the explosion throwing the Scouts over ten meters away from their last position, before gravity came again and they fell, painfully.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Earth, he had changed so he could lend Sailor Universe his power, rushed towards her, quickly followed by the others. Several of them were limping, and walking stiffly, Mercury having to be helped along by Jupiter, but they were all alive.

"I'm so proud of you," Sailor Moon whispered to her daughter, as Sailor Earth picked her up and they walked inside. They passed the cheering crowd without noticing them and headed for the Shield Room.

Sailor Universe looked at the parents she hadn't been able to help and just collapsed, crying, letting go off all the power within her and detransforming back to Reenie. She looked up at the gasps. The lights that left her when she detransformed were dancing above the prone forms of her parents and Uncle. They settled down into the stones still in their hands and as everyone watched in disbelief and hope, the light spread from the stones, up through the bodies and set everything to right. As Super Mercury watched closely, Neo-Queen Serenity started breathing, followed closely by the two Kings. Within seconds they were sitting up and shaking their heads, before they were attacked by a little girl with pink hair that needed to be reassured that they were alright.

"MOMMY!" she cried, "They said you were dead, and I had to fight all by myself, and I was so scared, but I was gonna make you proud of me and then everyone came and we won!" She tried to babble more, but couldn't get it out, and just sobbed.

"And you did, Small Lady, you made me very proud," Serenity whispered as she rocked her distraught daughter. King Endymion and King Tranquillity moved over to her and brought the two of them into another group hug of relief and happiness.

Once more, everyone left the family alone as they cried together, and their younger selves detransformed. Serena was crying almost as much as her daughter. In truth, there wasn't a dry eye in the group, even Darien and Travis having moist eyes as they gathered Serena into a group hug of their own.

"You must go home soon," Pluto said, "before you harm the time line by your continued presence."

Serena looked at Pluto for a long moment. "One of these days, you're going to have to learn that there are more important things than the time line. We're not leaving until we say good-bye."

The Royal Family came out, still drying their eyes. Reenie was being carried in her mother's arms, and obviously not intending to leave them anytime soon.

Serena went up to them, "We have to go home," she said softly.

"No!" Reenie whined.

"I'm sorry, little one, but we must. I'll miss you," she said quietly.

"I'll miss you too Serena, I love you." Reenie started crying again.

"I love you, too," Serena was trying to keep from crying anymore than she had already, "Come visit us if you can, okay?"

"Okay," Reenie promised as she left her mother's arms to give her other mother a long hug that neither seemed to want to end.

The others came up to say good-bye as well. Tears were still much in evidence as they hugged the little girl they had all grown to love.

Serenity spoke up, "We can never adequately repay you," she started.

"And you never have to," Darien replied smiling, "You should know that."

"I do know it, but it still needs to be said."

Pluto opened a gate into the time plane. One by one the younger Scouts walked in, followed by Travis and the Guardians. Darien waited for Serena who was giving one last hug to Reenie. She walked up to him, turned around and waved while walking backwards. She kept up the waving until she could no longer see the little girl waving back. Then turned around and walked forward.

--

That's it for Chapter Twelve, and really for Universal. There will be an epilogue, but it's just a fun little thing.

_To Be Continued_


End file.
